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EFFECTIVE 
DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


EFFECTIVE 
DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

THE  PRINCIPLES  AND  PRACTICE  OF 
PRODUCING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  FOR 
DISTRIBUTION  BY  MAIL  OR  OTHERWISE 


BY 

ROBERT  E.  RAMSAY 

AUTHOR  OF  "EFFECTIVE  HOUSE  ORGANS"  ;  SPECIAL  LECTURER  ON  "DIRECT 
ADVERTISING,"  NEW  YORK  UNIVERSITY,   UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO, 
UNIVERSITY  OF  MISSOURI,  INTERNATIONAL  CORRESPONDENCB 
SCHOOLS  ;    FORMERLY    EDITOR    OF    "ADVERTISING    & 
SELLING    MAGAZINE,"    AND    "POSTAGE";    PAST 
PRESIDENT    OF    DIRECT    MAIL    ADVER- 
TISING ASSOCIATION,  ETC. 


"I  keep  six  honest  serving  men 
(They  taught  me  all  I  knew)  ; 
Their  names  are  What,  and  Why  and  When, 
And  How,  and  Where  and  Who." — Kipuno. 


D.  APPLETON  AND   COMPANY 
NEW  YORK     :     1922     :    LONDON 


COPYRIGHT,   1921,  BY 

D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 


rMNTBD  IN   THE   UNITltD    STATES    OT   AUSBICA 


Library 

HF 


TO  THE  MAN  TO  WHOM  I  OWE  MUCH 
WHOSE  KINDLY  COUNSEL  AND  GUIDANCE 
HAVE    BEEN  A  SOURCE  OF   INSPIRATION 

GEORGE  BURTON  HOTCHKISS 

I   RESPECTFULLY   DEDICATE  THIS    BOOK 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/effectivedirectaOOramsiala 


FOREWORD 

This  volume  is  the  direct  product  of  some  fifteen  years' 
experience  in  the  use  of  direct  advertising,  an  experience 
also  which  covers  over  six  years'  work  as  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Governors  of  the  Direct  Mail  Advertising  Asso- 
ciation. I  may  state  that  I  still  serve  this  organization 
in  this  capacity.  Moreover,  the  subject  matter  of  this  book 
has  been  acquired  partly  during  some  three  years  of  con- 
current effort  as  editor  of  two  different  advertising  publi- 
cations, one  of  which  specialized  in  direct  advertising  and 
house  organs. 

This  book,  furthermore,  is  an  outgrowth  of  writing 
more  than  a  hundred  business  articles  of  all  kinds  which 
have  appeared  at  various  times  in  publications  that  treat 
principally  of  advertising 

While  many  books  have  been  written  and  published 
upon  advertising  in  its  various  aspects,  just  as  there  have 
appeared  several  works  upon  the  subjects  of  printing,  en- 
graving, typography,  and  the  like,  yet  not  a  single  one  of 
them  has  combined  all  the  knowledge  which  an  advertiser, 
whether  of  large  or  small  proportions,  needs  to  draw  upon 
to  inspire  or  teach  him  to  do  effective  advertising. 

This  volume,  therefore,  attempts  to  combine  in  one  book 
the  essential  physical,  mental,  and  mechanical  factors  as 
well  as  strategic  methods  that  are  involved  in  the  prep- 
aration either  of  a  single  piece  of  direct  advertising  or  of 
an  elaborate  campaign  of  many  millions  of  pieces. 

It  deals  with  principles  only  and,  though  written  simply 
so  that  these  may  be  grasped  readily  by  the  student  or  be- 
ginner in  advertising,  I  hope  it  may  prove  valuable  to  the 
advanced  practitioner  who  wishes  to  specialize  in  direct 
advertising  or  use  the  book  as  a  ready  reference  guide, 

vii 


viii  FOREWORD 

which  it  may  lay  claim  to  being  because  of  its  thorough 
index  and  complete  set  of  cross  references. 

In  order  to  simplify  the  work  both  for  teaching  and 
for  use  of  experienced  advertisers,  it  has  been  subdivided 
into  five  parts.  Each  part  is  distinct  from  the  others;  all 
the  parts  are  interdependent : 

Part  One  recounts  a  history  of  direct  advertising,  and 
also  gives  an  idea  of  the  place  direct  advertising  occupies 
in  the  realm  of  business  in  general. 

Part  Two  pertains  on.ly  to  the  physical  factors  of  direct 
advertising,  such  as  form,  the  list,  the  returns,  the  outside. 
In  connection  with  the  person  who  prepares  the  material 
and  directs  the  campaign  you  have  his  functions  clearly 
outlined  and  how  a  direct-advertising  department  is 
organized. 

Part  Three  discusses  the  mental  factors  including  analy- 
sis and  planning,  follow-up,  and  writing  direct-advertising 
copy. 

Part  Four  explains  all  of  the  mechanical  (including 
certain  mechanical  which  are  also  physical)  factors  in 
direct-advertising  work. 

Part  Five  shows  the  application  of  the  principles  as  set 
down  in  Parts  One  to  Four  inclusive,  and  touches  upon 
costs  of  pieces,  campaigns,  etc. 

The  appendices  are  for  ready  reference  purposes. 

Attention  is  called  to  the  fact  that  the  pieces  used  in  pro- 
viding illustrations  for  this  work  have  been  chosen  to 
emphasize  certain  specific  principles.  Thus  their  use  should 
not  be  understood  as  unqualified  approval  or  disapproval 
for  the  purposes  for  which  they  were  originally  produced. 

Wherever  possible  throughout  the  work  the  author  has 
endeavored  to  quote  admitted  authorities  upon  moot  points 
rather  than  set  forth  his  own  personal  opinions  so  that  the 
finished  product  might  be  an  authoritative  reference  and 
textbook.  Where  authorities  disagree,  he  has  quoted  from 
both  sides  and  endeavored  to  draw  a  definite  conclusion 
from  the  preponderance  of  the  evidence,  as  an  attorney 
would  phrase  it. 


FOREWORD  ix 

The  book  is  in  no  way  intended  as  propaganda  for  more 
indiscriminate  direct  advertising,  for,  as  I  said  in  the  fore- 
Word  to  the  companion  book,  Effective  House  Organs, 
what  the  advertising  world  needs  in  every  field  is  not  more 
of  any  class  but  better  and  higher  standards  in  all  classes, 
and  I  shall  therefore  show  the  weak  as  well  as  the  strong 
points  of  direct  advertising.  In  doing  this  there  is  no 
disposition  to  step  on  any  one's  "pet  corns"  but  only  a 
desire  to  make  the  work  constructively  helpful  to  the  gen- 
eral advertising  world. 

While  acknowledgments  are  made  elsewhere  (see  section 
505)  to  the  splendid  cooperation  of  many  who  have  helped 
to  make  the  book  possible,  I  desire  to  add  special  thanks 
here  to  Mr.  Albert  Highton,  formerly  associate  editor  of  the 
New  Standard  Dictionary,  for  care  in  reading  and  correct- 
ing the  original  manuscript. 

If  this  book  helps  even  slightly  towards  a  better  under- 
standing and  a  more  effective  use  of  this  "magic  of  the 
mails"  and  an  improvement  in  the  quality  of  direct  adver- 
tising I  shall  feel  that  my  efforts  have  not  been  in  vain. 
At  least  I  venture  to  hope  that  the  desires  of  my  many 
friends  who  have  requested  me  to  undertake  the  work  have 
been  satisfactorily  fulfilled. 

Robert  E.  Ramsay 
HoLYOKE,  Mass. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PACE 

FOBEWOBO vii 

PART  ONE 

INTRODUCTION 

I.    The  History  of  Direct  Advertising 1 

II.    The  Place  of  Direct  Advertising  in  Business  .     .     12 


PART  TWO 

THE  PHYSICAL  FACTORS  IN  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

III.    The  Classifications  of  Direct  Advertising  ...     39 

III.  The  Classifications  of  Direct  Advertising    (con- 

tinued)         73 

IV.  The  List 113 

V.    The  Returns 145 

VI.    The  Outside 161 

VII.    Wteo  Should  Prepare  Direct  Advertising?    .  .179 


PART  THREE 

THE  MENTAL  FACTORS  IN  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

VIII.     Planning  the  Campaign 209 

IX.    Planning  the  Follow-up 244 

X.    Writing  Direct  Advertising 260 


PART  FOUR 

THE  MECHANICAL  FACTORS  IN  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

XI.    Planning  the  Physical  Forms  from  a  Mechanical 

Standpoint 299 

XII.    The  Typography 321 

XIII.    Pictorial  and  Color  Display 339 

xi 


xu 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

XIV,  The  Engravings  and  Electrotypes 358 

XV.  The  Paper  Stock 371 

XVI.  The  Reproduction 384 

XVII.  Handling  the  Direct-Advertising  Reproduction     .  395 

XVIII.  Addressing  and  Distributing 413 

XIX.  The  Records 425 

XX.  The  Postal  Requirements 444 


PART  FIVE 
THE  PRACTICE  OF  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


XXI.    How  A  Single  Piece  Has  Been  Used  Effectively  .  457 
XXII.    How  A  Campaign  of  More  than  One  Piece  Has 
Been    Used    Effectively    for    Direct    Returns 
Without  Salesmen 465 

XXIII.  How  Direct  Advertising  Has  Been  Used  Effective- 

ly IN  Conjunction  with  Salesmen 471 

XXIV.  How  Direct  Advertising  Has  Been   Used  Effect- 

ively IN  Conjunction  with  Other  Forms,  Such 

AS  Answering  Inquiries,  Etc 479 

XXV.  How  Direct  Advertising  Has  Been  Used  Effective- 
ly  IN    Selling   to   Wholesalers   and  Retailers 

AND  Their  Salesmen 488 

XXVI.  How  Direct  Advertising  Has  Been  Used  Effective- 
ly IN  Selling  Goods  for  Wholesalers  and  Re- 
tailers        496 

XXVII.    How  Wholesalers  and  Retailers  Have  Used  Direct 

Advertising  Effectively 504 

XXVIII.    How  Banks,  Trust  Companies,  and  Bond  Houses 

Have  Used  Direct  Advertising  Effectively    .      .  514 
XXIX.    How  Direct  Advertising  Has  Been  Used  Effective- 
ly IN  Foreign  Trade  Extension 520 

XXX.  How  Direct  Advertising  Has  Been  Used  Effective- 
ly FOR  Peculiar  Business  and  for  the  Accom- 
plishment OF  Unusual  Purposes 527 

XXXI.  How  Direct  Advertising  Has  Been  Used  Effective- 
ly IN  Appealing  to  Farmers 535 

XXXII.  How  Direct  Advertising  Has  Been  Used  Effective- 
ly IN  Appealing  to  Professional  Men  and 
Women 541 

XXXIII.    How  Direct  Advertising  Has  Been  Used  Effective- 
ly in  Appealing  "Personally"  to  Men  ....  548 


CONTENTS  35iii 

PAOB 

XXXIV.  How  DraECT  Advehitising  Has  Been  Used  Effective- 
ly IN  Appealing  "Pebsonally"  to  Women  .    .      .  654 

XXXV.  How  Direct  Advertising  Has  Been  Used  Effective- 
ly in  Appealing  to  Children 562 

APPENDICES  xiii 

A.  Standard  BooKtET,  Catalogue,  House  Organ,  Almanac, 

and  Portfouo  Sizes,  Together  with  Standard  Sizes 

FOB  Forms .  669 

B.  Standard  Envelope  Sizes  572 

C.  Standard  Weights,  Sizes,  and  Names  of  Papers     .     .     .  575 

D.  A  Typical  Market  Analysis 578 

E.  A  Test  Chart  or  Yardstick  for  Direct  Advertising     .      .  583 

F.  Standard  Specifications  fob  Ordering  Printing     .      .     .  588 
Bibliography  and  Acknowledgments 691 

Index 695 


PART  ONE 

INTRODUCTION 

wherein  you  will  find  only  historical 

and  general  data  in  regard  to  this 

particular  form  of  media 


EFFECTIVE  DIRECT 
ADVERTISING 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  HISTORY  OF  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

It  is  the  true  office  of  history  to  represent  the  events  them' 
selves  together  with  the  counsels,  and  to  leave  the  observations 
and  conclusions  thereupon  to  the  liberty  and  faculty  of  every 
man's  judgment. — Bacon. 

1.  Direct  Advertising  Used  in  Early  Days  of  History. 
— About  1000  B.  c.  an  Egyptian  landowner  wrote  on  a  piece 
of  papyrus  an  advertisement  for  the  return  of  a  runaway 
slave.  This,  so  far  as  we  can  trace,  is  the  first  example  of 
direct  advertising.  The  original  was  exhumed  from  the 
ruins  of  Thebes  and  can  now  be  seen  in  the  British  Museum. 

Though  messages  were  imprinted  upon  bricks  and  sent 
direct  to  the  prospect,  in  Babylonian  days,  direct  advertis- 
ing did  not  then  grow  to  any  extent.  The  first  reference 
to  direct  advertising  about  the  time  of  the  birth  of  Christ 
is  found  in  one  of  Pliny's  books  in  which,  according  to  the 
translation,  we  read,  with  reference  to  a  poet :  * '  He  hired 
a  house,  built  an  oratory,  hired  forms,  and  dispersed  pros- 
pectuses." 

Writing  was  not  a  common  art  even  among  the  more 
highly  educated  in  those  early  days,  a  fact  which  naturally 
accounts  for  the  slow  development  of  direct  advertising. 

2.  Invention  of  Printing  Assisted  in  Making  It  Popu- 
lar.— From  the  invention  of  movable  type  by  Gutenberg 
(about  1434)  to  the  present  time  the  growth  of  direct  ad- 
vertising  has  in   many  ways   been   concurrent   with   the 


2  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

progress  in  printing,  and  we  shall  briefly  touch  upon  the 
historical  ''high  spots"  of  this  development  as  a  ground- 
work for  the  possibilities  of  the  future. 

William  Caxton  was  the  pioneer  printer  of  England,  hav- 
ing set  up  his  press  in  the  year  1471  at  Westminster  Abbey. 
About  1480  he  printed  the  first  English  handbill,  a  fore- 
runner of  the  "dodger"  of  to-day,  the  original  of  which  can 
be  seen  in  the  Bodleian  library  at  Oxford,  England. 

The  first  American  direct  advertisement,  according  to 
the  Philadelphia  Public  Ledger,  was  a  pamphlet  published 
in  1681  by  William  Penn,  the  front  cover  of  which  is  re- 
produced on  page  3.  Printers*  Ink,  commenting  upon 
this,  said:  "Excepting  for  its  now  archaic  language,  some 
of  the  passages  in  this  pamphlet  would  seem  to  be  a  quo- 
tation from  a  modern  land  scheme." 

Following  its  appearance  in  England,  where  it  was 
printed  to  stimulate  emigration  to  Pennsylvania,  this  pam- 
phlet was  almost  immediately  reprinted  in  Dutch  at  Rotter- 
dam and  in  German  at  Amsterdam. 

Good  direct  advertiser  that  he  was,  Penn  followed  up 
his  first  piece  with  seven  other  pieces  between  1681  and  1690. 
He  also  took  a  small  portion  of  the  first  pamphlet  and  pub- 
lished it  as  a  "broadside." 

3.  The  Forerunner  of  Modern-day  Real-estate  Ad- 
vertising.— Following  his  arrival  in  Pennsylvania  Penn,  in 
1683,  published  a  second  pamphlet  entitled:  "Letter  from" 
William  Penn,  Proprietary  and  Governor  of  Pennsilvania  in 
America,  to  the  Committee  of  the  Free  Society  of  Traders, 
of  that  Province,  residing  in  London." 

This  pamphlet  is  worthy  of  further  comment.  It  con- 
tained a  map  of  Philadelphia  and  an  advertisement  of 
Thomas  Holme,  who  surveyed  the  city  for  Penn.  What 
land  scheme  is  ever  published  nowadays  without  a  map? 

Unworthy  rumors  having  been  spread  abroad  in  England 
about  Penn's  Woods,  in  1687  Penn  published  another  pam- 
phlet, the  purpose  of  which  was  to  offset  these  rumors  by 
quotations  (testimonials  or  endorsements)  from  "persons 
of  good  credit"  (to  quote  from  the  cover). 


THE  HISTORY  OF  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


In  England  there  appeared,  in  1673,  a  pamphlet  entitled : 
"An  Essay  to  Revive  the  Ancient  Education  of  Gentle- 
women in  Religion,  Manners  and  Tongues,"  at  the  end 
of  which  there  was  an  advertisement  for  a  boarding  school. 
This  school  probably  financed  the  publication  of  the  first 
"service"  manual  on  record,  as  the  advertisement  and  the 
material  appearing  in  the  book  were  closely  allied. 

4.  Benjamin  Franklin  Founded  First  House  Organ. 
— Benjamin  Franklin,  of  course,  stands  in  the  forefront 
of  early  American  printers,  having  been  apprenticed  to  his 
Btepbrother  James  in  1718,  later  going  to  Philadelphia,  as 
every  school  child  knows,  and  entering  another  printing- 


ACCOUNT 

PROVINCE 

PENNSlLvANIA 

AMERICA 

LfttW  Qttmti  under  ihrGrcic  Scil 

ENGLAND 

T  O 

William  Penn,  &c 

TognliefvuhPriviledgnandPonrrrtntctr 
Ury  to  the  n-ell-govcrning  thereof. 

lOnpON    Pmrt.  udicUhr  ».,».  OH 


ITie  front  cover  of  the  first 
American  direct  advertising 
booklet  issued  by  William  Penn 
in  1681. 


office  there.     In  1732  he  founded  Poor  Richard's  Alma7iac, 
the  prototype  of  the  modem-day  patent  medicine  almanac. 


4  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

This  publication  was,  in  effect,  the  first  house  organ  in  this 
country  (see  Section  56). 

At  the  marriage  of  George  Ill's  eldest  daughter  (about 
1780)  a  curious  handbill  was  given  away  in  London^  which 
was  printed  upon  both  sides  and,  according  to  historians, 
"looked  like  a  tract."  Its  purpose,  however,  was  to  sell 
a  portable  washing  mill  (machine). 

In  1825  there  was  established  in  London  a  burial  so- 
ciety which  distributed  handbills  that  rivaled  the  recent 
(1920)  Frank  A.  Campbell  funeral  parlor  advertisements 
at  their  best.     Listen  to  one  of  its  arguments: 

A  favourable  opportunity  now  offers  to  any  person  of 
either  sex,  who  would  wish  to  be  buried  in  a  genteel  man- 
ner, by  paying  one  shilling  entrance  and  twopence  per 
week  for  the  benefit  of  the  stock.  Members  to  be  free  in 
six  months. 

The  money  to  be  paid  at  Mr.  Middleton's  at  the  sign  of 
"The  First  and  Last,"  Stonecutter  St.,  Fleet  Market. 

The  deceased  to  be  furnished  as  follows:  a  strong  elm 
coffin,  covered  with  superfine  black,  and  finished  with  two 
rows,  all  around,  close  drove,  best  black  japanned  nails,  and 
adorned  with  ornamental  drop,  a  handsome  plate  of  inscrip- 
tion, angel  above  and  flower  beneath,  and  four  pair  of,  hand- 
some handles  with  wrought  gripes;  the  coffin  to  be  well 
pitched,  lined  and  rufifled  with  fine  crape;  a  handsome  crape 
shroud,  cap  and  pillow.  For  use,  a  handsome  velvet  pall, 
three  gentlemen's  cloaks,  three  crape  hatbands,  three  hoods 
and  scarfs  and  six  pair  of  gloves;  two  porters  equipped  to 
attend  the  funeral,  a  man  to  attend  the  same  with  band 
and  gloves,  also  the  burial  fees  paid,  if  not  exceeding  one 
guinea. 

According  to  Henry  Sampson's  *'A  History  of  Advertis- 
ing from  Earliest  Times,"  from  which  the  above  is  quoted, 
this  piece  produced  results,  since  we  are  told  that  more 
than  1100  people  joined  in  short  order!  The  Middleton 
referred  to  was  not  only  an  undertaker  but  also  a  dealer 
in  wickerware,  including  baby  cribs,  a  fact  which  probably 
accounts  for  the  "catch  phrase"  used — "The  First  and 
Last." 


THE  HISTORY  OF  DIRECT  ADVERTISING     5 

5.  The  Process  of  Printing  Is  Brought  to  the  New 
World. — Strange  as  it  may  seem  in  the  light  of  present  his- 
tory, all  writers  agree  that  the  first  printing  press  in  the 
Kew  World  was  established  in  the  city  of  Mexico.  Penn's 
pieces  previously  referred  to,  it  will  be  remembered,  were 
printed  in  England.  The  date  of  the  establishment  is  also 
agreed  upon  as  in  the  sixteenth  century,  but  statements  as 
to  the  exact  details  differ  considerably. 

One  account  has  it  that  the  first  Spanish  Viceroy  of 
Mexico,  Antonio  de  Mendoza,  who  went  to  Mexico  in  1535, 
established  a  printing  office  some  years  before  1551.  This 
account  also  bears  the  statement  that  Joannes  Paulas  Bris- 
sensius,  or  Lombardus,  a  native  of  Brescia,  Italy,  was  the 
first  printer  in  America. 

One  of  his  books,  printed  in  1549,  was  for  quite  a  long 
time  cited  as  the  first  to  be  printed  in  America.  Still 
another  version,  deemed  more  reliable  by  informed  persons, 
is  that  printing  was  first  established  in  Mexico  by  the  Span- 
ish missionaries.  This  statement  is  supported  by  the  exist- 
ence, in  a  private  library  in  Madrid,  of  a  book  bearing  the 
date  of  1540  and  printed  by  Juan  Cromberger,  who  died 
in  1544.  According  to  this  evidence  Cromberger  would 
appear  to  be  the  first  printer  in  America. 

Accepting  either  conjecture  it  is  quite  certain  that  the 
printing  press  was  actively  employed  in  ]\Iexieo  less  than 
a  century  after  it  was  generally  known  in  Europe  and 
nearly  a  century  before  the  first  press  was  introduced  into 
the  confines  of  what  is  now  the  United  States.  All  this, 
however,  is  of  historical  interest  only;  there  is  no  trace 
of  any  direct  advertising  produced  by  the  Mexican  printers. 
In  1818  the  Columbian  press,  an  invention  of  one  George 
Clymer,  of  Philadelphia,  was  taken  to  Great  Britain  and 
patented — an  indication  that  America  was  interested  quite 
early  in  perfecting  the  mechanical  means  of  advertising. 

It  was  not  until  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  about  1865, 
that  the  patent-medicine  houses  began  to  flourish  and  the 
use  of  direct  advertising  became  anything  like  general. 
The  almanac  was  the  chosen  form  of  such  advertisements,  a, 


6  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

form  almost  in  disuse  to-day  except  among  this  same  class 
of  advertisers. 

Charles  Francis  in  his  book  "Printing  for  Profit,"  which 
covers  fifty  years  of  printing  experience,  tells  us  that: 
"When  the  introduction  of  photo-engraving  brought  down 
the  price  of  pictures,  they  rapidly  came  into  use  in  the  price 
lists,  and  about  1875  we  began  the  use  of  the  more  digni- 
fied term  'catalogue'  in  addition  to  price  list." 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  the  year  1888  the  printing 
industry  was  not  considered  important  enough  by  R.  G. 
Dun  &  Company  to  make  a  separate  classification  of  it  in 
their  annual  review.  Previously  they  had  included  it 
among  the  list  of  fourteen  "other  industries."  Now  it 
ranks  sixth  in  the  United  States. 

6.  Direct  Advertising  Is  Mentioned  in  First  Issue  of 
Printers'  Ink. — In  the  first  issue  of  Printers'  Ink,  dated 
August  1,  1888,  George  P.  Rowell,  founder  of  the  publica- 
tion and  America's  first  advertising  agent,  in  commenting 
on  the  proceedings  of  the  Arkansas  Press  Association,  said: 
"He  printed  his  letter  containing  the  resolution  and  certain 
questions  founded  thereupon  and  invited  replies  from  sev- 
eral thousand  publishers."  This  procedure  was  followed 
up,  according  to  Mr.  Rowell,  with  "a  second  circular." 

In  the  third  issue  of  the  same  publication  there  was  a 
reference  to  a  certain  Boston  newspaper  which  had  pub- 
lished a  handbook.  This  shows  the  early  interdependence 
of  direct  advertising  with  other  forms. 

In  the  seventh  issue,  dated  October  15,  1888,  we  find  a 
reference  to  the  Grand  Union  hotel  of  New  York,  as  having 
issued  "An  advertising  device,  a  guide-book  of  New  York 
City.     The  pamphlet  consists  of  128  pages  and  map." 

The  first  reference  to  a  circular  letter  is  found  in  the 
fifth  issue  of  Printers'  Ink  where  the  Gem  Piano  and  Organ 
Company  of  Washington,  N.  J.,  is  referred  to  as  sending 
out  a  "circular  to  newspaper  publishers  in  the  guise  of 
a  manuscript  letter."  This  quotation  plainly  shows  that 
the  so-called  "deception"  of  form  letters  was  given  early 
consideration. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  DIRECT  ADVERTISING      7 

A  few  mechanical  improvements  affecting  direct  adver- 
tising will  be  worthy  of  note :  There  came.the  linotype  in 
1884,  though  it  was  not  used  for  commercial  work  until 
1894;  the  monotype  in  1900,  and  other  improvements  in 
engraving,  binding,  folding,  and  so  on.  These  will  be 
treated  as  subjects  in  other  sections. 

While  not  all  direct  advertising  is  mail-order  advertising, 
as  we  shall  see  in  Chapter  II,  the  rise  and  growth  of  the 
mail-order  business  deserve  a  paragraph  historically  be- 
cause in  this  business  great  strides  were  made  to  improve 
.direct  advertising  from  the  mental  and  strategical  angles 
while  the  printers  were  at  work  improving  it  mechanically. 
A  nationally  known  cloak  and  suit  concern  in  New  York 
City  began  business,  for  example,  with  an  appropriation  of 
$500.  To-day  it  employe  nearly  four  thousand  clerks,  be- 
sides tailors  and  other  factory  hands  in  four  factories 
occupying  some  twenty  acres,  and  does  a  business  of  many 
millions  of  dollars  per  annum. 

7.  Mail-order  Business  Built  Largely  by  Direct  Adver- 
tising.— The  total  annual  mail-order  business  of  America  in 
1917  (we  take  this  year  so  as  to  secure  an  estimate  prior  to 
the  inflated  war  period)  was  estimated  by  a  mail-order 
specialist  at  $1,500,000,000. 

Thomas  G.  Patten,  postmaster.  New  York  City,  in  an 
article  in  the  American  Magazine  (late  in  1920),  made  the 
statement  that  there  were  a  number  of  concerns  in  New 
Yofk  which  spend  annually  more  than  one  million  dollars 
for  postage  alone.  Of  course  not  all  of  these  were  mail- 
order houses  (see  Section  13).  Seven  million  letters  in 
one  day  from  a  single  firm  was  not  a  record  breaker,  he 
said,  which  gives  some  idea  of  the  enormous  business  of  the 
United  States  Post  Office  Department. 

Another  way  of  arriving  at  the  extensive  growth  of  direct 
advertising,  considering  only  that  part  of  it  which  goes  by 
mail  (for  as  we  shall  see  in  later  sections  a  large  portion 
goes  to  "prospects"  in  other  ways),  the  statisticians  of  the 
United  States  Post  Office  Department  have  figured  that 
whereas  in  1862  the  average  annual  expenditure  for  postage 


8  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

stamps  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States  was  only  25 
cents,  to-day  it  is  in  excess  of  $2.50  each.  In  commenting 
on  this  tenfold  multiplication  the  New  York  Times  said: 
"The  percentage  of  increase  is  large,  but  one  cannot  help- 
wondering  where  the  enormous  multitude  live  whose  stamp 
bills  are  less  than  $2.60,  for  a  multitude  of  that  kind  there 
must  be  in  some  sequestered  corner  of  the  country  to  keep 
the  average  so  low.  Certainly  there  are  not  a  few  people 
who  could  not  get  along  with  writing  130  letters  a  year,  not 
to  speak  of  the  sending  of  an  occasional  paper  and  parcel, 
and  slighter  patronage  of  the  mails  would  seem  to  hint  at 
illiteracy  or  misanthropy,  or  both." 

Considering  the  mail-order  advertiser  alone,  let  us  take 
the  net  sales  for  a  period  of  ten  years  ending  December  31, 
1919,  of  one  leading  company,  namely.  Sears  Roebuck  & 
Company,  of  Chicago,  which  amounted  to  $1,214,826,121. 
For  the  year  1919  alone  the  net  sales  of  this  company  were 
$233,982,584,  the  largest  single  year's  business  it- had  ever 
experienced,  being  fifty  millions  ahead  of  its  1918  total  and 
nearly  four  times  larger  than  its  1910  total. 

8.  Over  a  Billion  Dollars  a  Year  Invested  in  Advertis- 
ing.— A  man  who  has  specialized  almost  exclusively  in  mail 
selling  estimated  late  in  1920  that  45  per  cent  of  the  total 
of  American  commerce  was  done  through  the  mails.  This, 
of  course,  may  be  conjecture,  but  the  fact  remains  that  at 
the  Indianapolis  convention  of  the  Associated  Advertising 
Clubs  of  the  World  (1920)  the  proportion  of  the  total  ad- 
vertising investment  of  the  United  States  was  placed  at 
$1,284,000,000,  of  which  $300,000,000  was  estimated  as  di- 
rect advertising. 

The  chart  shown  in  Fig.  1  illustrates  a  revision  of  the 
Associated  Clubs'  figure  to  include  directories  and  this  indi- 
cates nearly  $11  for  each  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the 
country,  based  on  latest  census  figures;  or,  putting  it 
another  way,  approximately  six  times  the  entire  gold  pro- 
duction of  the  United  States  for  the  past  35  years,  or  twice 
the  total  earnings  of  the  Standard  Oil  Company  from  1912 
to  1918  inclusive. 


Chart  ShovinO  the 
APPROXIMATE  TOTAL 


fa 


OK. 


Various  forms  ^Mvertisin^ 

TOTALtl,504X)00,000 


Mfftia/i/Mmk ^. 

Progra/ffs 
Street  Qxrs 
BUlPvstlnjg^ 


Dtn^ctoncqS 

Ocmo/rst/ittirvgr 

eiecirlc  cutcC 

Busaesslhpff^ 

Moyfozuies 

Dined  Adfi 
Heivsibpens 


^5,000,000 
5,000«000 

11,000,000 
.  ia.000,000 

20,000,000 
_  20,000,000 
.  24,000,000 

27,000^)00 

.  saoooxwo 

_30X)00,00O 
r.  70,000,000 
.150000,000 
.300,000,000 
.600,000,000 


Fig.  1. — A  graphic  portrayal  of  the  estimates  of  the  total  amount 
invested  during  1919-20  in  all  the  various  forms  of  advertising  The 
heavy  black  lines  are  proportionate  to  the  sum  of  money  indicated  on 
the  right  of  the  chart. 

9 


10  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

The  tendency  of  the  times  is  to  standardize,  to  eliminate 
lost  motion,  to  improve  methods  and  their  application,  so 
that  never  before  was  there,  from  a  historical  angle  solely, 
a  more  fitting  time  for  deep,  constructive  study  of  the 
value  of  direct  advertising.  Since  later  chapters  will  cover 
the  subject  in  every  aspect  from  idea  to  execution,  it  only 
remains  for  us  to  note  here  that  from  its  discovery  in  the 
dim,  distant  past  to  date  (1920)  there  has  been  a  far  greater 
improvement  in  the  mechanical  preparation  of  direct  adver- 
tising than  there  has  been  in  the  perfection  of  its  mental 
appeal  or  psychological  effect. 

Further  proof  of  this  will  be  found  in  considering  that 
the  1914  census  report  of  the  United  States  government, 
as  of  1909,  showed  a  total  of  31,445  printing  establishments 
in  this  country.  They  represented  an  investment  in  plants, 
machinery  and  other  equipment  of  $588,345,708,  employed 
388,466  people  at  an  annual  wage  of  $268,086,431,  and 
turned  out  $737,876,087  worth  of  printing,  a  part  of  which, 
of  course,  included  forms,  books,  and  items  other  than  direct 
advertising.  In  the  same  year  the  firms  specializing  in 
direct  advertising  could  almost  be  counted  on  the  fingers  of 
your  two  hands.  The  persons  engaged  in  producing  it 
could  be  numbered  only  by  the  hundreds,  and  but  a  com- 
paratively small  total  capitalization  was  employed. 

It  was  not  until  1920  that  any  one  firm  specializing  in 
the  production  of  direct  advertising  assumed  such  im- 
portance as  to  justify  a  mammoth  building  devoted  exclu- 
sively to  its  use. 

The  dawn  of  better  printing  must  be  followed  by  a  dawn 
of  better  direct  advertising,  that  together  they  may  worth- 
ily share  the  light  of  progress. 

Questions  for  Class  Work  or  for  Review  Purposes 

1.  How  is  the  history  of  the  growth  of  printing  intertwined 
with  the  progress  of  direct  advertising? 

2,  In  what  department  of  direct  advertising  has  the  greatest 
progress  been  made  to  date? 


THE  HISTORY  OF  DIRECT  ADVERTISING    11 

3.  Judging  the  future  by  the  past,  wherein  lies  now  the  largest 
field  for  development? 

4.  Explain  in  general  terms  the  growth  of  direct  advertising, 
supplementing  the  text  where  possible  from  your  own  experiences. 

5.  In  your  own  words  tell  why  you  deem  it  worth  while  to 
study  the  history  of  direct  advertising  as  a  means  of  improving 
this  medium  in  the  future. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  PLACE  OF  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  IN  BUSINESS 

Your  advertising  is  not  a  thing  apart  from  your  enterprise. 
It  is  your  enterprise;  a  contagion  which  you  yourself  create 
and  which,  if  thoroughly  spread,  is  as  enduring  as  the  everlasting 
hills. — Seymour  Eaton. 

9.  A  Preliminary  Study  of  the  General  Term  "Adver- 
tising."— Before  we  can  definitely  place  direct  advertising 
in  our  minds  it  may  be  necessary  to  clarify  the  general 
term  of  ''advertising,"  a  word  which  in  itself  has  been 
given  almost  as  many  definitions  as  there  are  advertising 
men  and  women. 

To  all  too  many  business  men,  as  well  as  students  and 
others,  advertising  is  a  mixture  of  signs,  cards,  pictures, 
"cuts,"  folders,  catalogues,  type,  borders,  and  an  unend- 
ing variety  of  visible,  vocal,  audible,  physical,  and  even 
intangible  ways  and  means  of  calling  some  one's  attention 
to  something.  To  some  advertising  seems  to  be  the  main 
reason  for  the  existence  of  magazines  and  newspapers,  an 
excuse  for  the  regular  coming  of  the  mailman,  or  for  the 
hiding  of  a  landscape,  or  an  economical  method  of  decorat- 
ing the  interior  of  street  cars,  all  of  which  makes  it  confus- 
ing unless  we  analyze  and  classify  the  various  general  kinds 
and  methods. 

Broadly  speaking,  all  forms  of  advertising  divide  them- 
selves into  two  main  classes:  (1)  General  Publicity,  and 
(2)  Educational  Advertising. 

The  two  extremes  may  well  be  illustrated  by  (1)  a 
mammoth  painted  wall  display  reading  "Buy  Liberty 
Bonds"  and  (2)  a  1000-page  book  published  by  one  of  the 
New  York  magazines  which  reproduces  in  facsimile  1000 
letters  of  inquiry  received.     Another  example  of  the  educa- 

12 


PLACE  OF  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  13 

tional  advertisement  may  be  noted  in  a  mail-order  catalogue 
which  in  some  cases  may  reach  a  thousand  pages  or  more. 

It  will  be  interesting,  for  a  moment,  to  trace  the  origin 
of  these  two  general  forms  and  at  the  same  time  to  compare 
them,  yet  show  their  interdependence. 

General  publicity  signifies  making  a  thing  open  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  general  public.  Here  is  an  example: 
John  Smith  starts  a  hat  store  on  Main  street,  and  he  hangs 
out  a  sign  which  reads :  ' 

John  Smith 
Sells  Hats 

He  may  even  omit  the  word  ''sells,"  thus  permitting  the 
reader  to  supply  that  fact  by  inference.  John  gets  pub- 
licity but  little  advertising  of  an  educational  nature,  for  it 
is  only  an  explanation  of  how  John  makes  his  living  and 
merely  parallels  statements  made  in  regard  to  other  people 
such  as:  "John  Doe  works  on  the  street  cars,"  or  "Rich- 
ard Roe  is  a  lawyer."  The  general  public  is  not  especially 
interested  in  John  Smith,  nor  how  he  makes  his  living. 
There  are  many  other  men,  perhaps  in  the  same  town,  who 
sell  hats.  Hats  are  but  one  of  the  many  necessities  of  life 
that  we  all  buy  now  and  then  regardless  of  publicity,  though 
advertising  of  an  educational  nature  may  increase  the  num- 
ber of  our  purchases;  witness  the  many  hats  bought  by 
women  as  compared  by  the  number  bought  by  men.  Style, 
a  form  of  educational  advertising,  is  the  answer. 

Across  the  street  John  Brown  opens  up  a  competing  hat 
store  and  he  takes  the  first  step  from  general  publicity ;  he 
adds  the  argumentative  appeal  which  is  the  unconscious 
form  of  trying  to  educate  your  reader.     Brown 's  sign  reads : 

John  Brown 

Sells  Better  Hats 

Than  Any  One  Else 

This  cannot  be  classed  as  purely  educational  advertis- 
ing; we  recall  past  disappointments.     Too  often  in  the  past 


14  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

have  we  acted  upon  outright  statements  of  this  nature  by 
purchasing  and  been  fooled. 

Yet  the  sign  has  more  advertising  value  than  Smith's 
sign,  and  if  Brown  stays  there  long  enough  it  may  event- 
ually, by  the  aid  of  some  other  form  of  advertising,  such  as 
word-of-mouth,  newspaper,  or  street-car  card,  for  example, 
be  believed. 

Up  the  street  there  is  a  third  hatter  who  realizes  that,  left 
to  ourselves,  we  will  only  buy  hats  when  they  are  needed 
and  who  believes  that,  after  all  is  said,  the  hat  itself  is  sec- 
ondary to  the  SERVICE  that  we  get  from  it.  The  Educational 
sign  that  John  Jones  hangs  out  reads : 

John  Jones, 

The  Hatter, 

Sells  Hats  that 

Look  Well,  Wear 

Well  and  Fit  Your 

Head 

The  public,  including  you  and  I,  are  not  going  to  become 
interested  in  how  John  Smith  makes  his  living  as  long  as 
he  does  not  bother  us ;  we  are  not  inclined  to  believe  John 
Brown's  unsupported  statement,  but  when  it  is  called  to  our 
attention  we  are  interested  in  a  hat  that  looks  well,  wears 
well,  and  which  fits  our  head — we  recall  the  one  which  was 
a  bit  too  tight,  for  example. 

John  Jones'  sign,  though  it  indicates  educational  adver- 
tising in  its  lowest  form,  strikes  a  service  note,  and  there- 
fore affords  a  bond  of  interest  between  us. 

10.  Two  General  Classes  of  Educational  Advertising. 
— Educational  advertising,  in  turn,  can  be  divided  into  two 
general  classes:     Direct  and  General  Advertising. 

General  advertising,  not  to  be  confused  with  General 
Publicity,  is  any  form  of  advertising  which,  comparatively 
speaking,  is  scattered  broadcast  that  every  one  may  see 
and  read.  John  Jones'  sign  is  in  this  class  though  re- 
stricted only  to  those  who  may  see  it  as  they  pass  his  store. 
In  this  same  class  are  advertisements  placed  in  magazines, 


PLACE  OF  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  15 

newspapers,  and  business  papers;  novelties  (when  generally 
distributed)  ;  electric  and  painted  displays,  farm  paper  ad- 
vertising, demonstrating  and  sampling  when  general,  direc- 
tory advertisements,  window  and  store  displays,  posters, 
street-car  cards,  programs  and  motion-picture  advertising 
of  all  kinds.  Some  of  these  forms  are,  quite  obviously,  far 
more  general  than  the  others  and  their  worth  as  advertis- 
ing media  for  any  individual  proposition  can  only  be  ar- 
rived at  when  all  of  the  factors  are  known.  Ordinarily 
speaking,  the  more  general  the  advertising  the  more  general 
must  be  the  possible  buyers  and  users  of  the  product  or 
service  to  be  advertised.  Any  form  of  general  advertising 
may  well  be  adapted  for  breakfast  foods,  for  example,  pro- 
vided they  have  the  necessary  distribution.  This,  however, 
will  be  discussed  later. 

The  other  subdivision  of  educational  advertising  is  known 

as  DIRECT   ADVERTISING. 

For  a  simple  example,  if  John  Jones,  the  Hatter,  referred 
to  in  an  earlier  paragraph,  got  out  a  booklet,  "How  to 
Choose  Hats,"  and  mailed  it  to  those  men  living  in  his 
city  who  might  logically  be  considered  his  prospects,  that 
would  be  direct  advertising  of  hiiih  educational  value. 

II.  A  Definition  of  Direct  Advertising. — Many  detini- 
tions  have  been  written,  yet  the  shortest  we  have  found 
reads:  "Direct  advertising  is  the  kind  that  goes  direct  to 
the  class  of  people  who  use  or  can  use  the  product  adver- 
tised." 

The  writer's  own  definition  of  direct  advertising  is  as 
follows:  "Direct  advertising  is  any  form  of  advertising 
reproduced  in  quantities,  hy  or  for  the  advertiser  and  by 
him  or  under  his  direction,  issued  direct  to  definite  and 
specific  prospects,  through  the  medium  of  the  mails,  can- 
vassers, salesmen,  dealers,  or  otherwise."  This  differs 
from  Mr.  MacFarlane's  quoted  below  only  in  attempting  to 
clarify  it  still  further. 

Charles  A.  MacFarlane,  in  an  advertising  book  (an  ex- 
cellent example  of  a  thorough-going  educational  advertise- 
ment), "Principles  and  Practice  of  Direct  Advertising," 


16  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

published  in  1915  by  one  of  the  paper  manufacturers,  de- 
fined direct  advertising  thus:  "Direct  advertising,  as  the 
terra  is  now  commonly  used  and  understood,  is  any  kind  of 
advertising  that  is  mailed  or  otherwise  sent  or  given,  by  or 
for  an  advertiser,  direct  to  specific  firms  or  individuals, 
instead  of  being  published  or  directed  or  distributed  to  the 
public  generally." 

A  very  much  longer  and  more  involved  definition  which 
lacks  the  clarity  of  the  preceding  is  the  one  published  by 
the  Advertising  Club  of  St.  Louis:  "Direct  advertising  is 
necessarily  class  advertising.  Its  use  is  confined  to  cam- 
paigns where  an  accurate  list  of  prospects  can  be  secured 
and  where,  owing  to  a  diversity  in  the  character  of  articles 
comprising  the  line  to  be  exploited,  it  is  desirable,  if  not 
absolutely  necessary,  to  vary  the  form  of  copy  for  each; 
where  concerns  dealing  in  specialties  which  are  sold  to  dis- 
tinct classes  of  trade,  for  obvious  reasons  desire  to  confine 
their  advertising  to  those  classes;  where  manufacturers,  or 
others  introducing  new  articles  or  lines  of  goods  through 
dealers,  wish  to  establish  a  wide  distribution  of  their  prod- 
uct before  attempting  to  create  a  general  demand  through 
general  advertising." 

Instances  innumerable  could  be  cited  to  show  that  this 
definition  is  too  restricting  in  its  operation.  For  example, 
while  direct  advertising  is  primarily  the  method  of  reaching 
the  classes,  rather  than  the  masses,  one  of  the  most  success- 
ful campaigns  ever  carried  on,  according  to  the  firm  which 
conducted  it,  was  a  direct  advertising  campaign  which  in- 
cluded the  distribution  of  a  sample  of  chewing  gum  to 
every  telephone  holder  in  the  United  States,  a  total  of  seven 
millions  in  the  first  campaign  and  eleven  millions  during 
the  "repeat"  some  years  later. 

12.  Not  the  Medium  for  Reaching  a  Mass  Blindly. — 
Direct  advertising,  therefore,  is  a  medium  for  reaching  the 
classes,  primarily,  and  for  the  masses  as  well,  where  the  mass 
makes  up  a  class.  Or  expressing  it  another  way,  direct 
advertising  is  not  a  medium  to  reach  a  mass  blindly. 

There  are  many  different  classifications  of  direct  adver- 


PLACE  OF  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  17 

tising,  as  will  be  found  in  Chapter  III,  and  several  different 
methods  of  reproduction,  as  will  be  fully  described  in  Chap- 
ter XVI.  It  differs  from  all  other  forms  of  advertising  in 
that  its  maker  is  also  its  actual  or  supervising  distributor. 

Note  that  in  the  foregoing  analysis  and  definitions,  ex- 
cepting the  one  criticized,  there  is  no  attempt  to  claim  that 
direct  advertising  is  a  panacea  for  all  ills  or  that  the  uiSer  of 
this  form  cannot  also  take  advantage  of  a  concurrent  or 
supplementary  newspaper  or  magazine  campaign.  This 
point  is  stressed  because  at  least  one  definition  made  by 
an  authority  in  the  field  suggested  by  inference  that  any 
one  using  direct  advertising  could  not  use  any  form  of  gen- 
eral advertising. 

13.  Not  All  Direct  Advertising  is  Mail-order  Adver- 
tising.— Furthermore,  it  should  be  emphasized  that  all  di- 
rect advertising  is  not  mail-order  advertising,  nor  is  the 
opposite  true.  In  mail-order  advertising,  as  a  rule,  the 
name  of  the  prospect  having  been  secured,  perhaps  through 
general  publication  advertising,  the  problem  is  to  get  that 
prospect  to  send  in  his  or  her  order  by  mail,  choosing  from 
a  catalogue,  booklet,  or  other  piece  of  direct  advertising. 
After  the  order  has  been  received  it  will  be  filled  by  mail, 
express,  or  freight,  as  the  conditions  may  require. 

Thus  the  mail-order  advertiser  has  neither  salesmen,  re- 
tailers, nor  other  distributors,  excepting,  possibly,  an  occa- 
sional branch  shipping  plant  which  may  serve  the  purpose 
of  the  latter.  Mail-order  advertisers  are  large  users  of  di- 
rect advertising,  to  be  sure,  since  on  account  of  their  deal- 
ing directly  by  mail  with  their  customers  it  is  the  only 
form  left  for  the  completion  of  the  sale.  Yet  by  far  the 
larger  portion  of  the  total  sum  indicated  by  the  chart 
shown  in  Fig.  1  as  being  invested  in  direct  advertising  was 
contributed  by  manufacturers,  wholesalers,  retailers,  and 
others  not  in  the  mail-order  business. 

For  example,  M.  F.  Harris,  advertising  manager  for 
Armour  &  Company,  Chicago,  told  the  Direct  Advertising 
Department  of  the  Associated  Advertising  Clubs  of  the 
World,  at  their  St.  Louis  convention  in  1917,  how  the  vari- 


18  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

oiis  forms  of  advertising  350  different  Armour  products 
were  supplemented  by  direct  advertising.  In  that  year  the 
company  used  10,000,000  ten-color  package  inserts,  so  that 
in  purchasing  a  pail  of  lard,  for  instance,  the  housewife 
received  a  piece  of  matter  advertising  ketchup,  pork  and 
beans,  and  other  Armour  products.  Included  in  this  cam- 
paign were  250,000  cookbooks,  bearing  the  title,  "The  Busi- 
ness of  Being  a  Housewife,"  which  represented  a  total  cost 
of  $30,000.  At  the  same  time  there  were  2,200  salesmen  on 
the  road  for  Armour  &  Company ;  actually  not  a  bit  of  mail- 
order business  was  done. 

Or  take  another  and  more  recent  example.  In  connec- 
tion with  a  newspaper  campaign  in  more  than  700  cities 
during  the  spring  of  1920  the  Young  Men's  Christian  As- 
sociation, according  to  an  article  in  Printers'  Ink  (Febru- 
ary 12,  1920,  page  44),  used  a  total  of  nearly  three  million 
pieces  of  printed  matter  to  help  sell  the  Thrift  idea. 

In  one  city,  Pittsburgh,  for  instance,  a  half  million  cards 
were  printed  and  distributed  to  employees  of  all  the  indus- 
trial plants  and  to  every  school  child. 

Several  of  the  larger  cities  have  prepared  very  elaborate 
pieces  of  direct  advertising.  "Plan  of  Chicago,"  for  ex- 
ample, is  perhaps  the  largest  and  most  successful  civic 
promotion  book  ever  published  in  this  country.  This  book, 
which  was  illustrated  by  Jules  Gnerin  and  most  of  the  il- 
lustrations printed  in  process,  cost  $74,000. 

Newark,  New  Jersey,  has  a  book  of  this  nature  which  sold 
for  $60  a  copy.  Among  other  cities  using  this  form  of  di- 
rect advertising  are  Minneapolis,  St.  Louis,  Bridgeport, 
Providence,   and   Rochester. 

Another  authority  on  advertising  in  general  speaks  of 
direct  advertising  as  a  more  modern  word  for  "circulariz- 
ing," though  nothing  could  be  further  from  the  truth.  Dr. 
H.  E.  Bates,  in  The  Advertising  News,  well  answers  tliis 
argument  in  these  words :  "Direct  advertising  means  more 
than  circularizing.  It  does  not  consist  of  the  mailing  of  a 
more  or  less  successful  imitation  of  a  tj^pewritten  letter. 
It  means  more  than  the  sending  out  of  what  is  generally 


PLACE  OF  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  19 

called  a  'circular'  but  which  in  many  instances  is  'flatness' 
personified.  Direct  advertising  is  not,  in  any  sense,  a  per- 
functory proposition.  To  plan  and  execute  it  successfully 
requires  brains,  plus  experience,  plus  more  brains.  It  is 
an  infinitely  harder  advertising  'stunt'  to  write  a  business- 
getting  direct  advertising  letter  than  it  is  to  write  copy  for 
a  magazine,  newspaper,  or  other  advertising  medium. 
Printers'  ink  must  be  mixed  with  brains." 

Since  Dr.  Bates  is  an  advertising  counselor,  retained 
by  several  of  the  large  firms,  and  recommends  all  different 
forms  of  advertising,  his  remarks  will  suffice  to  answer  that 
specious  argument  which  is  often  noted  by  the  beginner  in 
direct  advertising,  be  he,  or  she,  a  seller  or  user  of  it. 

14.  Relative  Importance  to  Various  Classes  of  Adver- 
tisers.— Fig.  2  shows  the  relative  importance  of  direct  ad- 
vertising to  the  various  classes  of  advertisers.  The  chart 
shown  has  only  been  made  up  after  a  thorough  research  of 
the  use  of  direct  advertising  among  every  different  class 
involved.  The  upper  half  of  the  chart  is  devoted  to  a  cam- 
paign aimed  at  users,  or  consumers,  while  the  lower  half 
outlines  a  campaign  aimed  at  retailers  or  wholesalers.  On 
the  lower  half,  therefore,  the  mail-order  and  retailer  ad- 
vertisers are  not  considered. 

To  the  mail-order  advertiser  direct  advertising  is  shown 
as  approaching  100  per  cent — the  scale  runs  from  0  at  the 
center  to  100  per  cent  at  the  base  of  both  upper  and  lower 
triangles.  To  the  retailer  or  strictly  local  advertiser  direct 
advertising  is  essential,  a  complete  survey  of  which  will 
appear  in  Chapter  XXVII.  To  the  class  advertiser,  by 
which  is  meant  the  advertiser  doing  business  with  some 
recognized  subdivision  of  the  business  world,  class  publica- 
tions would  be  the  chosen  medium.  For  example,  Printers' 
Ink  is  the  class  publication  to  reach  the  advertising  man; 
to  reach  handlers  of  electrical  goods.  Electrical  Merchandis- 
ing would  be  the  medium  which  might  be  used.  To  repeat, 
advertisers  using  these  different  class  publications  are 
known  in  the  advertising  world  as  class  advertisers.  They 
may  also  be  national  advertisers,  let  it  be  parenthetically 


Relative  Importance 


Vital  -\Mail  Order  Advertiser 
C5SCntial-\Re^3il  cr Strictly  Local 

Important  — \   Class 
Valuable  — ^National 


WAen. 
Aimed 

Users 


lOO^Possible  Users 


100^  Distributiort 


Mail  Order  AdvvV  Retailer 


yAe  neoRssitt/  for 
Oirec6  /fdrerusucqf 

I  N  CR-EASES 

OECR.EASE6 

jx^  dcsir^ulcbtc^ 

Spre3,d.s. 


local  Adv. 


Class 


National 


tVfiea 
aimed 

at 
ReUilers 


© 


J 


Fig.  2. — A  graphic  presentation  of  the  relative  importance  of  direct 
advertising  to  all  classes  of  advertisers,  both  when  aimed  at  users  or 
consumers  and  at  retailers  or  wholesalers. 

20 


PLACE  OF  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  21 

stated.  To  the  national  advertiser,  that  is,  the  advertiser 
using  the  general  magazines,  or  the  newspapers  on  a  na- 
tional basis,  direct  advertising,  when  aimed  at  users  (on  the 
assumption  that  by  so  doing  it  is  possible  to  approacli  the 
100  per  cent  of  possible  buyers),  is  valuable,  and  as  100  per 
cent  distribution  is  reached,  as  a  general  rule  direct  adver- 
tising becomes  less  important. 

To  be  specific,  the  manufacturer  of  a  nationally  adver- 
tised chewing  gum  with  100  per  cent  distribution  would, 
so  far  as  chewers  of  the  gum  were  concerned,  have  little  use 
for  direct  advertising,  though  jumping  to  the  lower  half  of 
the  chart  under  discussion,  if  that  manufacturer  wished  to 
reach  the  jobbers  distributing  the  gum,  for  example,  direct 
advertising  might  be  the  only  method  available. 

Taking  up  the  lower  triangle  we  find  that  the  importance 
of  direct  advertising  increases  as  we  approach  from  the 
strictly  local  through  the  class  to  the  national  advertiser. 

Out  of  this  study  this  rule  may  be  formulated:  The 
necessity  for  direct  advertising  should  be  greatest  with  the 
newness  of  the  product  and  probably  will  decrease  as  dis- 
tribution spreads ;  this  from  the  angle  of  the  user,  of  course. 
A  hosiery  company,  for  instance,  once  used  nearly  100  per 
cent  direct  advertising,  but  as  they  secured  practically  uni- 
versal distribution  for  their  product  they  switched  from 
direct  advertising  to  general  advertising,  as  more  economi- 
cal. Certain  manufacturers  of  an  automobile  accessory 
started  out  the  first  year  with  70  per  cent  of  their  appro- 
priation in  direct  advertising,  but  as  they  secured  distribu- 
tion they  reduced  this  amount,  putting  what  was  so  saved 
in  general  advertising.  Other  instances  could  be  cited  to 
prove  this  rule. 

A  few  excerpts  taken  from  the  proceedings  of  the  St. 
Louis  Associated  Clubs'  convention  will  prove  the  place  of 
direct  advertising  in  the  national  advertising  campaign : 
"I  cannot  conceive  how  a  national  advertising  campaign 
could  be  a  success  without  being  associated  with  direct  ad- 
vertising," said  E.  G.  Weir,  advertising  manager,  Beck- 
with  Company,  Dowagiac,  Michigan.     "Direct  advertising 


22  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

has  played  a  part,  in  practically  every  successful  advertis- 
ing and  sales  effort  we  have  ever  made,"  said  Henry  H. 
Way,  of  Way  Sagless  Spring  Company,  Minneapolis. 

15.  Percentage  of  National  Advertising  Appropriations 
in  This  Form  of  Advertising. — In  issues  of  Postage  for 
April  and  May,  1918,  pages  8  and  9  and  17  and  30  respec- 
tively, is  shown  the  result  of  a  very  thorough  research  the 
author  made  of  a  large  list  of  national  advertisers.  Space 
is  not  available  for  republishing  these  data  in  full ;  suffice 
to  say,  however,  that  taking  a  general  average  of  all  those 
replying  to  the  questionnaire,  and  those  answering  repre- 
sented such  firms  as  Armstrong's  Linoleum,  Buick  Automo- 
bile, Glidden's  Varnish,  Ilupmobile,  Haynes  Automobile, 
Morrison-Ricker  Gloves,  Pyrene,  Purina  Mills,  United 
States  Cartridge  Company  and  many  others,  these  showed 
an  average  of  33%  per  cent  of  their  appropriations  in 
direct  advertising  to  66  2/3  in  general  media. 

Or  if  the  advertisers  were  divided  into  two  logical 
classes:  (1)  Selling  through  retailers  where  the  margin  of 
profit  is  small,  and  (2)  specialties  which  permit  of  a  more 
generous  margin  of  profit,  it  was  found  that  the  first  class 
almost  invariably  showed  85  to  90  per  cent  in  general 
advertising  and  the  rest  in  direct  advertising,  and  the  sec- 
ond class,  which  was  subdivided  into  new  and  old  products, 
showed  50-50  for  the  old,  and  75-25  for  the  new,  in  favor 
of  direct  advertising. 

From  the  angle  of  the  place  of  direct  advertising  in 
advertising,  we  need  but  quote  one  more  authority,  James 
O'Shaughnessy,  Executive  Secretary  of  the  American  As- 
sociation of  Advertising  Agents,  who  when  speaking  before 
the  San  Francisco  convention  of  the  Associated  Clubs,  said : 
"Few  campaigns  of  advertising  of  any  scope  fail  to  employ 
this  class  of  media  known  as  direct  advertising.  .  .  .  Every 
medium  has  its  place.  The  theory  that  direct  advertising 
should  be  employed  in  every  campaign  on  every  product 
would  not  be  fair  to  it.  Neither  is  it  fair  that  direct  ad- 
vertising is  denied  its  place  in  many  campaigns.  .  .  .  Direct 
advertising  is  so  large  in  its  importance  to  the  making  and 


PLACE  OF  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  23 

the  preserving  of  our  national  prosperity  and  so  vital  in 
its  service  to  the  industrial  and  social  welfare  of  the  nation 
that  it  must  command  the  sincere  and  sympathetic  study 
of  every  one  concerned  with  advertising." 

Another  angle  of  interest  in  the  material  presented  in 
Fig.  1  (see  page  9),  viewed  in  connection  with  statements 
made  in  the  foregoing  paragraphs,  is  the  recent  inquiry 
among  5,000  readers  of  Mail  bag,  a  monthly  journal  of  di- 
rect advertising.  A  digest  of  the  results  of  this  investiga- 
tion shows  that  the  readers  were  on  the  average  investing 
$37,414  each  in  all  forms  of  advertising,  and  an  average  of 
$12,272  each  into  direct  advertising.  Note  how  compara- 
tively accurately  this  percentaafe  totals  with  the  figures  of 
Fig.  1. 

We  may  then  take  for  granted  the  necessity  of  this  form 
of  advertising  in  practically  every  campaign,  though  there 
are  admitted  exceptions. 

1 6.  The  Ten  Advantages  of  Direct  Advertising. — Let 
us  now  examine  the  advantages  of  direct  advertising  and 
compare  it  carefully  with  some  other  forms  of  advertising 
media.  The  ten  advantages  of  direct  advertising  are  well 
illustrated  by  Fig.  3.     Each  may  be  said  to  be: 

1.  Direct. — This  follows  the  ages-old  axiom  that  "a  straight 
line  is  the  shortest  distance  between  two  points" — the  advertiser 
and  the  prospect.  (More  about  this  will  be  said  in  later  chap- 
ters.) 

2.  Timely. — Advertising  may  be  timed  in  many  ways,  as  will 
be  fully  described  in  Chapter  VIII. 

3.  Elastic. — Considered  from  the  angle  of  mechanical  or  men- 
tal (copy)  approach  you  make  the  medium  and  you  therefore 
can  make  it  fit  your  wishes  or  needs. 

4.  Selective. — By  this  means  prospects  may  be  picked  out  of 
a  crowd.  For  example,  a  trust  company  might  want  to  circular- 
ize all  Liberty  Bond  buyers. 

5.  Economical. — This  factor,  of  course,  presupposes  using  di- 
rect advertising  for  that  problem  for  which  it  is  fitted  according 
to  the  laws  of  economics.  Where  mass  circulation  only  is  con- 
sidered and  desired,  this  does  not  hold  true.  But  where  the  list 
or  lists  are  properly  prepared  waste  is  reduced  to  a  minimum. 


ADVANTAGES 


1  \fc>iir-^ 


^  *~^VburPro5ped: 


Siifr/a/  c/iifs/Tce6ef0emiu>ifpo/n/s 


11 


T'lMEL'Y 


Mechanical 
Problems 


-t  Mental 

Processes 


SELECTIVE^'*'o'n'P«^P«'^ 


u.5.t'-.i..p  &^       fjT 


Economical 


Personal 


8     Ini>ivii>uaij[tv 


AD. 


€^.'\ 


10 


Fle^cible. 


© 


Fig.  3. — The  cartoonist  portrays  the  ten  advantages  of  direct 
advertising. 

24 


PLACE  OF  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  25 

6.  Personal. — Your  advertisement  in  a  publication  is  like 
unto  a  speech  in  a  crowd,  or  on  a  billboard  (poster)  a  shout 
into  a  multitude,  but  a  letter  or  other  direct  advertising  piece  is 
a  personal  talk. 

7.  Versatile. — Versatility  applied  may  accomplish  much — 
from  getting  orders  direct  (mail-order  houses  employ  it  to  great 
advantage)  to  paving  the  way  for  salesmen  (manufacturing 
firms  selling  specialties  are  frequent  users  of  it  for  this  purpose), 
as  well  as  many  other  things  in  between. 

8.  Individual. — You  can  (and  should)  put  yourself  into  a 
piece  of  direct  advertising.  As  Louis  Victor  Eytingc,  famous  as 
a  human-interest  letter-writer,  says:  ''You  can  get  into  the 
envelope  and  seal  the  flap." 

9.  Adaptable. — In  other  words,  a  readiness  to  reach  pros- 
pects of  every  age,  "from  the  cradle  to  the  grave." 

10.  Flexible. — The  power  by  which  you  may  reach  the  butcher, 
the  baker,  and  the  electric-light  maker  and  talk  to  each  in  his 
own  language. 

17.  Results  May  Be  Traced  Where  Desired. — A  possi- 
bility worthy  of  consideration  is  that  of  checking  results 
by  keying  the  pieces  in  various  ways,  as  will  be  shown  later. 
From  the  strategic  angle  you  may  keep  your  campaign  a 
secret,  if  desired.  On  the  other  hand,  by  means  of  any 
general  medium  your  competitors  may  learn  your  plan, 
prices,  and  methods.  A  mail-order  campaign  secures  quick 
results  by  direct  advertising. 

Some  or  all  of  these  advantages  are  possessed  bj'  the  other 
media  of  advertising,  but  on  account  of  lack  of  space  we 
must  restrict  our  study  to  the  one  form — direct  advertising. 

In  this  chapter  we  shall  not  take  up  the  distribution  of 
direct  advertising.  Chapter  XVIII  may  be  referred  to, 
however,  for  all  of  the  different  methods  of  distribution. 

In  the  case  of  practically  any  form  of  general  advertising 
you  can  use  direct  advertising  either  to  precede  or  supple- 
ment it.  Naturally  each  individual  case  has  to  be  consid- 
ered on  its  own  merits,  but  take  a  manufacturer  of  filing 
equipment,  for  example.  Fig  4  A  indicates  the  division  of 
one  year's  advertising  appropriation  of  a  manufacturer  in 
that  field  and  shows  how  direct  advertising,  in  several  dif- 


AveraqeFercentaqfe  Invested  m 

DIRECT  ADVERTISING 
and  House  Organs  b/  Various  Classes 


/         /ciotRiiKj 


Investlqation  of  over  looo  Stores.  @ 


Fi<r.  4. — A  portrays  the  porccntaiic  invested  in  various  forms  of 
advertising  by  a  typical  manufaetiirer.  15  gives  the  distribution  of 
the  appropriation  of  a  tyi)ioal  department  store.  C  is  arrived  at  on 
a  basis  of  Hystem's  investigation  of  over  1000  retail  stores  of  all 
classes.     See  text  for  details. 

2G 


PLACE  OF  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  27 

ferent  forms  (details  of  the  various  classifications  will  be 
found  in  Chapter  III),  was  used  to  supplement  magazine 
advertising.  In  place  of  magazine  advertising  you  might 
substitute  newspaper,  business  paper,  or  other  general 
media.  Fig.  4  B  illustrates  the  division  of  the  advertising 
appropriation  of  the  J.  L.  Hudson  Company,  Detroit,  Mich- 
igan, a  large  department  store,  showing  the  portion  which 
goes  into  direct  advertising.  Fig.  4  C  illustrates  the  per- 
centages spent  in  advertising  by  over  1,000  stores,  according 
to  the  investigators  sent  out  by  System,  and  the  darkened 
portions  show  what  might  be  approximately  the  pro- 
portion in  direct  advertising,  using  as  our  basis  of  compar- 
ison the  amount  so  invested  pro  rata  by  the  Hudson  store 
which,  in  turn,  handles  all  of  the  various  items  shown  sep- 
arately on  Fig.  4  C. 

1 8.  The  Functions  Only  Direct  Advertising  Can  Per- 
form.— Harry  Tipper  in  his  book,  "The  New  Business," 
says:  ''Printed  matter  (direct  advertising)  performs 
functions  which  can  hardly  be  performed  by  any  other  of 
the  general  forms  of  advertising."  Elsewhere  in  the  same 
book  he  says:  "Because  of  the  fact  that  90  per  cent  of 
the  printed  matter  which  comes  into  his  (the  prospect's) 
hands  daily  is  intended  either  to  entertain  or  to  in- 
form him  in  respect  of  human  knowledge  or  senti- 
ment, the  printed  word  is  accepted  mainly  without 
suspicion." 

No  attempt  will  be  made  in  this  chapter  to  detail  specific 
results  from  direct  advertising  campaigns.  Part  Five  of 
this  book.  Chapters  XXI  to  XXXV,  inclusive,  covers  prac- 
tically every  angle  of  what  direct  advertising  actually  has 
done,  but  it  will  be  interesting  before  we  take  up  the  physi- 
cal, mental,  and  mechanical  factors  to  glance  at  Fig.  5 
and  note  the  ten  important  things  it  can  do : 

1.  Get  orders.  The  success  of  the  mail-order  houses  attests 
to  this. 

2.  Supplement  publicity  and  answer  inquiries.  It  is  so  used 
by  advertisers  using  almost  everj'  form  of  media.  See  Chapter 
XXIV. 


DirectAdvertisingCampaign 


1    Go  Get   M0  Orders 


^  fifft/e  fie  tttatf  far  Sa/esman  ^ 


4jANU'wv  I  Keep  inferest  ali'ye      „  PT^F?!^ 

^^1  between  Salesman  calfa  |tf§^| 


*'<^^C?  OfsfMingSafi^les    1 


^earmint- 
Double  mint 
tJuicif  fruit' 


6        ^^-=^       /W4?  /^yz7^  arguments 


/11j|||\        Retai/ers^m^  m^  IVholesa/ers        (|M 


^        Opeh/ng^ 


Att 


Afe/z;  Territory      \  -  ,  ^ 


?-^ 


^  Coosclid^fdHtfaforkers  ^W^^j^spkilotgoodhSotsfybgahoese  organ 


10  «. 

Afetc   aude/en/y  changing  /oca/  conditions^  ^^ 


Fig.   5. — The  ten   important   things  that   a   direct-advertising  cam- 
paign of  one  or  more  pieces  can  do  are  depicted  by  the  cartoonist 

28 


PLACE  OF  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  29 

3.  Pave  the  way  for  salesmen  and  follow  their  calls.  See 
Chapter  XXIII. 

4.  Keep  interest  alive  between  calls.  Where  the  house  organ 
is  used  this  is  slightly  different  from  the  preceding  use,  as  will 
be  shown  later.     This  reference  is  primarily  for  dealers. 

5.  Distribute  samples.  So  used  by  Wrigley's  to  an  enormous 
list,  as  previously  referred  to.  Many  other  firms  have  done  the 
same  and  many  more  could  if  they  stopped  to  consider  the  ad- 
visability. Naturally  it  has  to  be  used  where  the  cost  of  sample 
is  small. 

6.  Drive  home  ai^uments.  Sometimes  the  prospect  is  inclined 
to  be  skeptical  of  the  salesman's  spoken  arguments,  whether 
he  or  she  be  wholesalers',  manufacturers',  or  retailers'  represent- 
ative, but  if  following  such  a  call  there  comes  to  the  home  or 
office  a  piece  of  advertising  which  proves  that  salesman  was 
correct  the  prospect  is  more  likely  to  buy  later. 

7.  Secure  new  and  "enthuse"  old  retailers  and  wholesalers. 
A  house  organ  comes  in  readily  here. 

8.  Open  up,  or  make  a  special  drive  in  some  new  territory 
whjch  may  be  very  promising,  to  reach  which  there  may  not  be 
any  other  form  of  advertising  available.  As  for  example  reach- 
ing the  French-Canadians  of  Quebec,  or,  say,  shippers  on  the 
main  line  of  the  Erie. 

9.  Consolidate  the  fellow  workers'  spirit  of  good  fellowship 
by  a  house  organ.  Direct  advertising  has  been  used  advantage- 
ously for  this  purpose  by  the  Addressograph   Company. 

10.  Meet  suddenly  changing  local  conditions,  such  as  result 
from  fire,  snow,  or  modifications  in  a  crop  situation,  or  for  any 
other  change  which  might  make  it  desirable  to  get  in  touch  quickly 
with  a  certain  list,  or  territory. 

Direct  advertising  is. used  w^ith  great  success  by  Robert 
H.  IngersoU  &  Brother  to  reach  the  small  town  field, 
especially  the  small  towns  located  in  sparsely  settled  coun- 
try. One  of  the  speakers  at  the  Cleveland  convention  of 
the  Direct  Advertising  Association  emphasized  the  value  of 
direct  advertising  to  reach  the  wide  areas  of  western  Can- 
ada. 

ig.  All  Media  Are  Interdependent,  Generally  Speaking. 
— To  give  the  clearest  idea  of  tlie  close  interdependence  of 
all  advertising,  this  short  quotation  from  a  firm  whicli  pro- 


30  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

duces  direct  advertising  only  is  especially  striking,  because 
it  represents  the  new  day  in  business  in  general,  the  admis- 
sion that  the  other  fellow  has  a  right  to  exist : 

"Without  newspaper  or  magazine  advertising  or  the  bill- 
boards and  street-car  cards,  no  business  can  grow  really  big. 
This  is  another  way  of  saying  that  no  business  can  grow 
big  without  public  confidence. 

**  Without  direct  advertising,  no  big  business  is  making 
the  most  of  its  possibilities,  and  no  small  business  is  mer- 
chandising most  economically." 

Evidence  to  increase  public  confidence  can  be  seen  in 
recent  campaigns  of  mail-order  houses  in  the  general  pub- 
lications which  accept  their  copy. 

On  the  other  hand,  let  us  record  here  some  specific  cases 
where  even  an  organization  (Paper  Makers'  Advertising 
Club)  whose  business  is  to  make  more  users  of  direct  ad- 
vertising, admits  that  this  medium  is  not  the  one  to  use : 

"Where  it  is  impossible  to  secure  a  complete  and  accurate 
mailing  list  of  possible  buyers  of  the  product  to  be  adver- 
tised ; 

"Where  the  selling  price  of  the  product  is  not  sufficiently 
large  to  justify  the  cost  of  the  necessary  postage  stamps 
and  printing  to  reach  individual  customers  direct ; 

"Or  where  the  mailing  list  would  run  into  too  many  mil- 
lions of  names." 

With  reference  to  the  last  mentioned  it  should  be  repeated 
that  Wrigley's  found  it  worth  while  to  circularize  as  many 
as  eleven  millions  of  names  direct;  again,  the  publication 
(house  organ  or  house  magazine)  having  the  largest  circula- 
tion in  the  world  is  The  Metropolitan,  which  is  issued  by 
the  Metropolitan  Life  Insurance  Company  for  its  policy- 
holders. 

20.  Results  Which  Have  Been  Secured  by  Direct  Ad- 
vertising.— A  few  results  will  be  worth}'  of  space  here  de- 
spite other  detailed  references,  since  they  will  serve  as  a 
ba,ckground  for  the  closing  portion  of  this  chapter,  which, 
necessarily  in  conformity  with  our  scheme  of  the  book,  has 
been  historical : 


PLACE  OF  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  31 

One  concern  with  a  booklet  costing  less  than  $300  pro- 
duced within  eight  months  sales  totaling  $86,000. 

An  Ohio  rubber  company,  to  cite  another  instance  (we 
([uote  their  exact  words),  prepared  "a  few  folders  on  toy 
balloons  which  have  helped  to  increase  our  production  of 
two  million  a  year  to  sixty  million  toy  balloons  a  year. 
While  we  do  not  attribute  the  total  of  this  volume  to  these 
folders  we  believe  they  are  largely  responsible  for  this 
phenomenal  increase  inasmuch  as  they  were  sent  broadcast 
in  every  section  of  the  country  and  brought  results  that 
positively  incapacitated  our  manufacturing  facilities." 

With  a  series  of  three  letters  one  specialist,  within  sixty 
days,  produced  1,000  new  accounts  with  hardware  dealers. 

The  same  man  with  another  series  of  three  letters  sold  a 
tract  of  timberland  for  $5,250  which  in  its  bulk  purchase 
had  cost  the  buyer  less  than  $500. 

A  well-known  shoe  company  says  this  of  direct  advertis- 
ing: "We  have  tried  about  every  form  of  advertising  that 
the  best  known  advertising  men  of  the  country  could  sug- 
gest. We  have  used  every  known  method  to  determine 
which  kind  of  advertising  is  most  effective,  and  our  tests 
have  proved  that  direct  appeals  (folders  and  booklets  sent 
direct  to  men  who  buy  shoes)  bring  the  best  results." 

Another  firm  which  kept  such  an  accurate  record  of 
costs  (for  details  of  how  to  keep  costs,  see  Chapter  XIX) 
that  they  literally  charged  up  the  time  of  the  bookkeeper  in 
keeping  the  records,  thus  embracing  every  single  item  of 
expense  both  intimately  and  remotely  connected  with  the 
campaiizn,  showed  total  net  profits  just  a  little  short  of 
$16,000  on  a  total  cost  of  $1,015.  This  was  a  sales  cost  of 
15  per  cent;  upon  inquiry  it  developed  that  their  sales  cost 
l\y  previous  etTorts  iiad  been  30  per  cent.  Since  their  previ- 
ous efforts  had  been  general  advertising  this  is  not  exactly 
a  fair  comparison,  for  some  of  the  effect  and  impression 
of  the  display  advertising  certainly  helped  the  direct-adver- 
tising campaign,  vet  the  results  speak  for  themselves. 

"Our  selling  cost  with  direct  advertising  is  79  per  cent 
cheaper  than  with  any  other  form  of  advertising  or  selling," 


32  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

writes  P.  F.  Bryant,  sales  and  advertising  manager  of  the 
Babson  Statistical  Organization,  AVellesley  Hills,  Massa- 
chusetts, in  Direct  Advertising,  Vol.  6,  No.  2,  adding,  ''Di- 
rect advertising  produces  more  than  half  of  our  business. 
It  produces  more  business  than  our  24  salesmen  produce. 
It  shows  the  lowest  cost  per  sale." 

Martin  L.  Pierce,  merchandising  manager,  Hoover  Suc- 
tion Sweeper  Company,  in  addressing  the  Detroit  conven- 
tion told  how  direct  advertising  might  be  used  to  appeal 
effectively  to  all  classes  when  he  said:  ''The  effectiveness 
of  direct  advertising  used  by  the  Hoover  Company  is  defi- 
nitely set  forth  because  of  its  universal  appeal.  It  has  been 
used  with  equal  effectiveness  by  central  stations,  furniture 
stores,  hardware  stores,  department  stores,  and  electric 
shops.  Sales  are  being  built  up  as  a  result  of  its  use  in 
every  state  in  the  Union,  in  Canada,  and  in  England.  All 
types  of  prospects  have  been  secured  in  approximately  the 
same  percentage  in  cities,  towns  and  open  country;  from 
the  rich  and  the  poor;  from  the  cultured  and  uncultured; 
from  business  and  professional  men  on  the  one  hand  and 
from  shop  hands  and  day  laborers  on  the  other." 

As  a  final  summation  of  the  value  of  direct  advertising 
we  know  of  notliing  better  than  the  following  taken  from 
the  issue  of  Advertising  &  Selling  for  December,  1014: 
"Direct  advertising  meets  the  four  conditions  of  salesman- 
ship :  attention,  interest,  desire,  action.  Attention  is  no 
problem  in  direct  advertising.  Every  message  is  seen  by  the 
pair  of  eyes  it  is  addressed  to.  If  your  circulation  is  20,- 
000,  you  can  bank  on  20,000  readers.  (Note:  Read  follow- 
ing paragraphs  on  this  point. — The  Author.)  Interest 
is  not  hard,  because  you  are  not  cramped  for  space,  and 
because  a  message  which  resembles  a  letter  commands  some 
reading.  Desfre  may  be  aroused,  because  you  can  use  pic- 
tures freely,  and  on  a  large  scale,  also  color  without  pro- 
hibitive cost,  and  because  you  have  room  to  explain  every 
advantage  and  meet  all  objections.  Action  :  you  are  not 
restricted  to  a  flimsy  coupon  as  in  space  advertising,  but 
may  enclose  a  postal  card  or  self-addressed  envelope." 


PLACE  OF  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  33 

And  that  brings  us  to  the  final  element :  what  is  known 
as  the  "Waste-Basket  Bogey." 

21.  The  "Waste-basket  Bogey"  and  Its  Relation  to 
Direct  Advertising. — ^Wherever  direct  advertising  is  dis- 
cussed you  meet  this:  "Doesn't  all  direct  advertising  go 
into  the  waste-basket?"  or  this:  "Why,  at  our  office  we 
get  piles  of  mail;  you  ought  to  see  the  boy  coming  in  on 
Monday  morning!    Very  little  of  it  is  read." 

Of  course  not  all  direct  advertising  is  read.  Inevitably 
some  part  of  it  goes  into  the  waste-basket.  The  best-pulling 
full  page,  in  colors  and  in  a  preferred  position,  in  a  certain 
weekly  with  two  million  circulation  pulled  a  little  under 
25,000  replies,  or  just  a  little  over  1  per  cent  returns. 
Do  not  misunderstand ;  that  was  not  the  only  result  effected 
by  that  advertisement;  in  the  writer's  opinion  it  was  well 
worth  its  cost  even  had  it  not  pulled  a  single  reply.  The 
instance  is  cited  here  to  refute  an  argument  that  is  foolish 
but  which  every  new  user  of  direct  advertising  has  to  meet, 
the  "waste-basket  bogey." 

Not  every  salesman  sees  every  prospect  at  every  call. 
Some  are  out  of  town,  some  ill,  some  refuse  to  see  him. 
The  train  is  late,  a  connection  is  missed,  there  are  many  ele- 
ments which  may  cause  the  salesman  not  to  get  a  hearing, 
and  even  if  he  secures  a  hearing  it  is  not  always  a  favorable 
one,  regardless  of  whether  he  gets  an  order  or  not. 

There  is  no  potential  difference  between  a  piece  of  direct 
advertising  which  goes  into  the  waste-basket  unopened,  un- 
read, and  the  advertising  pages  of  magazine,  newspaper,  or 
business  journal  which  remain  unread.  We  all  know  from 
personal  experience  that  frequently  we  do  not  find  time  to 
read  or  even  to  glance  at  every  page  of  every  periodical  we 
buy,  subscribe  for,  or  have  given  to  us.  Yet  one  difference 
may  be  suggested :  the  physical  act  of  throwing  a  direct  ad- 
vertising piece  into  the  waste-basket  makes  more  impression 
when  compared  with  an  omission  in  reading  the  page  of  a 
periodical.  This  physical  difference  doubtless  accounts  for 
the  persistent  reference  to  "waste"  in  direct  advertising 
without  commenting  on  the  same  wastes  in  other  forms. 


34  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Incredible  as  it  may  seem,  t\^o  big  New  York  newspapers 
have  at  different  times  attacked  editorially  direct  advertis- 
ing for  its  "wastefulness."  Think  of  the  utter  futility  of 
their  attitude  when  you  see  every  daj'  page  after  page  of 
"boiler  plate"  or  "special  features"  wasting  precious 
newsprint  in  the  very  same  newspapers!  Think  of  the 
ridiculous  argument  that  one  New  York  daily  puts  forth 
to  the  effect  that  direct  advertising  should  be  sent  only 
upon  request,  when  this  newspaper  itself  loads  the  paper 
so  full  of  UNREQUESTED  advertising  that  it  makes  one's  arm 
tired  to  carry  it! 

No  one  reads  all  the  advertisements  in  every  periodical 
he  gets,  nor  does  he  read  all  the  direct-advertising  material 
he  receives.  Yet  assuredly  the  businesses  which  have  been 
built  entirely  by  mail  prove  the  efficacy  of  this  form  of 
advertising.  Moreover,  on  practically  every  campaign 
which  has  been  fairly  tested  direct  advertising  has  far  out- 
pulled  every  other  form  of  advertising,  as  judged  by  num- 
ber of  inquiries,  by  sales  or  on  other  bases. 

What  has  been  said,  however,  is  not  to  be  taken  to  mean 
that  we  have  reached  the  zenith  of  our  power  in  direct  ad- 
vertising. Onl}^  a  minor  portion  of  the  100  per  cent  latent 
power  in  gasoline  is  ever  transmitted  to  the  rear  wheels  of 
an  automobile,  we  are  told.  Corresponding!}'',  but  a  small 
portion  of  the  latent  power  in  almost  any  form  of  advertis- 
ing has  as  yet  been  applied  to  the  driving-wheels  of  busi- 
ness. We  have  much  room  for  improvement,  and  the  aim 
of  the  remainder  of  this  book,  now  that  the  historical  angles 
have  been  disposed  of,  is  to  help  you,  the  reader,  to  improve 
and  make  more  effective  your  direct-advertising  effort. 

Questions  for  Class  Work  or  for  Review  Purposes 

1.  Give  your  own  definition  of  advertising  in  general,  as  you 
understand  it. 

2.  What  are  the  two  general  forms  of  advertising,  and  define 
each? 

3.  Compose  examples  of  the  various  divisions  and  subdivisions 
of  advertising  referred  to  in  the  text. 


PLACE  OF  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  35 

4.  Give  the  author's  definition  of  direct  advertising. 

5.  Is  all  direct  advertising  what  is  known  as  mail-order  ad- 
vertising?    Cite  examples  of  mail-order  advertisers. 

6.  In  not  over  300  words  tell  the  relative  importance  of  direct 
advertising  to  the  broad,  general   classifications  of   advertisers. 

7.  In  your  own  words  tell  why  direct  advertising  is  not  as  a 
general  rule  the  medium  for  reaching  the  masses,  and  cite  any 
possible  exceptions  you  can  tlunk  of. 

8.  Name  the  ten  advantages  of  the  media  under  discussion. 

9.  Someone  has  said  "All  direct  advertising  goes  into  tiie  waste- 
basket,"  while  another  queries:  "Then  who  fishes  it  out  and 
answers  it  ?"     What  is  your  idea  on  the  subject  ? 

10.  Considering  any  problem  facing  you  specifically,  after  tell- 
ing what  the  problem  is,  explain,  in  general  terms,  whether  you 
think  direct  advertising  could  or  could  not  be  used  advantageously 
and  why. 


PART  TWO 

THE  PHYSICAL  FACTORS  IN  DIRECT  ADVER- 
TISING 

In  which  you  will  find  not  only  a  dictionary  tabulation  of 
the  physical  kinds  and  classifications  but  the  general  ap- 
plications of  those  classes. 

This  part  also  covers  the  List  as  the  most  important  of 
physical  factors,  as  well  as  Returns  and  Results,  the  Out- 
side which  the  Prospect  sees  and,  finally,  the  individual  or 
firm  preparing  direct  advertising. 

Note  to  Reader 
Throughout  this  book  wherever  there  is  a  reference  to  sizes 
of  booklets,  etc,  the  first  dimension  given  is  in  every  case  the 
width  and  the  second  dimension  the  depth.  For  example,  a  6  x  9 
book  is  six  inches  wide  and  nine  inches  deep  bound  at  the  left  on 
the  nine-inch  side. 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  CLASSIFICATIONS  OF  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Order  is  Heaven's  first  law,  and  this  confest, 
Some  are,  and  must  be,  greater  than  the  rest. 

— Pope. 

22.  Difficult  to  Define  Advertising  Terms  Exactly. — 
Even  such  a  well  posted  publication  as  Printers'  Ink,  ad- 
mits in  a  recent  issue  (1920)  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to 
define  advertising  terms.  One  of  its  subscribers  having 
asked  for  an  exact  definition  of  the  word  ''broadside,"  the 
magazine  replied  in  part:  "Where  a  business  is  grow- 
ing and  expanding  and  pushing  out  into  new  channels  of 
service  as  rapidly  as  advertising  is,  it  would  be  difficult  to 
standardize  its  nomenclature.  To  possess  terms  capable  of 
exact  definition,  a  business  would  have  to  be  static  or  re- 
duced to  a  basis  of  an  exact  science.  For  this  reason,  the 
terms  used  in  nearly  every  business  are  subject  to  variable 
definitions.  .  .  .  The  word  'broadside'  is  a  good  example 
of  the  elasticity  in  the  meaning  of  advertising  terms. 
Originally  'broadside,'  as  used  in  the  printing  sense,  was 
a  large  sheet  of  paper  with  printing  of  some  kind  on  it.  .  .  . 
To-day  it  is  used  to  describe  the  announcements  which  are 
sent  to  the  trade  by  advertisers." 

23.  Present-Day  Definitions  Will  Help  to  Clarify  Situa- 
tion.— Despite  the  obstacles  mentioned  in  the  preceding 
section,  every  one  realizes  that  even  an  approximately  ac- 
curate set  of  definitions  for  general  use  would  help  to 
clarify  the  situation.  Beginners  in  the  use  of  direct  ad- 
vertising, if  fairly  certain  of  using  the  right  word  to  de- 
scribe a  piece  of  direct  advertising,  would  be  more  likely 
to  use  this  form  of  advertising  since  it  is  quite  natural  that 

39 


40  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

no  one  likes  to  mispronounce  a  name  or  word,  or  otherwise 
bring  unfavorable  attention  upon  himself.  It  will  be  the 
object  of  this  chapter,  as  we  set  forth  the  different  physical 
forms  of  direct  advertising,  to  give  a  fairly  exact  definition 
and  as  far  as  possible  take  the  naming  of  the  various  forms 
of  direct  advertising  out  of  the  class  of  the  old  lady  and 
her  pies,  one  of  which  she  marked  ''T.  M,"  for  "  'Tis 
Mince,"  and  the  other,  made  of  apples,  "T.  M."  for 
"  'Tain't  Mince." 

24.  Two  General  Forms  of  All  Direct  Advertising. — 
There  are  two  general  forms  of  all  direct  advertising  con- 
sidered from  the  standpoint  of  their  physical  differences 
and  variations.  One  general  class  is  conventional  and, 
practically  speaking,  standardized,  while  the  other  general 
class  is  auto-contained  or  unconventional.  Under  the 
class  first  mentioned  we  shall  consider,  in  order.  Letters, 
Letterheads,  Books  and  Booldets,  Catalogues,  Portfolios, 
Bulletins,  and  House  Organs  or  House  Magazines,  while 
under  the  second  mentioned  class  we  shall  consider  jNIail- 
ing  Cards,  Circulars,  Inclosures,  Broadsides,  Folders,  Blot- 
ters, Poster  Stamps,  Novelties  or  Specialties  of  several 
kinds,  including  Photographs,  Rulers,  Calendars,  Menus, 
and  other  forms  of  printed  direct  advertising  novelties. 
Since  there  is  no  absolute  line  of  demarcation  it  must  be 
admitted  at  the  outset  that  frequently  pieces  are  hard  to 
classify  definitely.  Fig.  6  shows  these  various  classifica- 
tions in  graphic  form  and  will  be  helpful  in  considering  the 
proper  form  to  use  in  planning  a  campaign. 

Generally  speaking,  the  conventional  or  standardized 
pieces  require  an  envelope  or  other  container  in  which  to 
mail  them  to  the  prospect,  or  to  serve  as  a  protection  for 
the  piece  its&lf  prior  to  delivery  other  than  by  mail.  The 
auto-contained,  or  unconventional,  pieces  usually  arc  capa- 
ble of  delivery  without  a  special  envelope,  as  by  addressing 
them  on  the  face  in  the  case  of  the  folder,  or  as  in  the  case 
of  the  inclosure  designed  to  go  along  with  some  other  form 
of  direct  advertising;  as,  for  example,  the  sales  letter,  and 
will  not  therefore  require  a  special  container.     This  par- 


Classifications 


Qonve/iliQfiaL 


^ocA^: 


SjcuidcmcLc^fect 


sonai 


looselea/ 


A  letterste 

B  Catalogs  [ 

C  Booklets 
D  Bulletina 
E  Portfolios 
F  Almanacs 
G  House  Organs 


OUi&  (j)nhbiect 

UncorLverttiOnat 

H  HailinO  Cards 

I    BlottCKS 

J  Encbsures 
K  Coupons 

L  f^cka^  Inserts 
M  Broadsides 

N  Poster  Stamps 
O  Folders 
P  PhotoOraphs 
,,Q^NoveIties,Saniples^ 


rE:NVE:LOPE.s    I 

StancUrd     2  Government        3  Novel 


Die  Cut 


Rl 


9/73/i/2ecL 


(§> 


Fig.  G. — The  materia  medica  of  direct  advertising.  What  to  pre- 
scribe for  any  specific  problem  can  be  determined  only  after  diagnos- 
ing the  "complaint" — analyzing  the  aims,  appeals  and  prospects. 

41 


42  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

ticular  feature  will  be  treated  at  length  in  Chapter  VI. 

25.  The  Letter  the  Basic  Form  of  All  Direct  Adverlis- 
ing. — As  we  found  in  Chapter  I  the  letter,  a  written  or 
printed  message  sent  direct  from  the  man  who  wants  to  sell 
to  the  man  the  former  thinks  will  want  to  buy,  is  the  basic 
and  original  form  of  direct  advertising.  The  letter  (ex- 
cepting, of  course,  the  routine  letter)  is  the  form  upon 
which  all  other  physical  forms  of  direct  advertising  have 
been  built  and,  generally  speaking,  the  more  nearly  the 
appeal  of  direct  advertising  follows  the  plan  and  outline 
of  a  personal  individual-to-individual  letter  the  more  nearly 
will  it  be  successful.  The  "New  Standard  Dictionary" 
iefines  letter,  in  the  sense  it  is  used  here,  as,  "a  written 
or  printed  communication." 

Charles  Henry  Mackintosh,  before  the  Chicago  Associa- 
tion of  Commerce,  in  the  spring  of  1920,  gave  an  excellent 
summarization  of  the  preparation  of  an  effective  letter.  He 
suggested  that  effective  letters  had  ten  points  and  each  of 
these  points  was  divided  into  three  main  parts:  "  (1)  The 
things  that  precede  the  writing  of  the  letter — ^the  plan; 
(2)  the  things  that  go  into  the  letter — the  text;  and  (3) 
the  form  of  the  letter. ' ' 

Under  Plan,  he  listed  knowledge  of  the  subject,  knowl- 
edge of  the  object,  and  knowledge  of  the  prospect ;  covering, 
in  order,  what  one  must  know  about  the  product  or  service 
you  are  writing  about;  what  you  must  know  about  what 
you  wish  to  accomplish  with  the  letter;  and  what  you  must 
know  about  the  person  or  persons  to  whom  you  are  writing. 

Under  Text,  he  listed  five  questions  which  the  writer  of  a 
letter  should  ask  about  it :  "Is  it  complete?  Is  it  logical? 
Is  it  concise?     Is  it  forcible?     Is  it  sincere?" 

Under  Form,  he  listed  two  questions :  "  Is  it  neat  ?  Is  it 
accurate  ? ' ' 

In  a  general  way  what  Mr.  Mackintosh,  a  specialist  in 
letters,  says  about  an  effective  letter  is  true  of  all  other 
forms  we  shall  take  up,  since  a  letter  is  the  basic  form  of  all 
direct  advertising. 

The  functions  of  letters  may  be  classified  as  follows: 


CLASSIFICATIONS  43 

1.  Sell  goods,  ideas,  or  services. 

2.  Act  as  introducer  for  other  literature  or  salesmen. 

3.  Refer  tiie  inquirer  to  some  one  else  for  data,  information, 

or  goods,  ideas,  or  service. 

5.  Collect  money. 

6.  Adjust  differences. 

7.  Make  friendly  "calls"  purely  for  good-will  building  pur- 

poses. 

8.  Confinn  verbal  understandings. 

26.  Letters  Are  of  Many  Kinds. — It  is  not  usual  to  class 
a  so-called  "personal"  letter  as  a  piece  of  direct  advertis- 
ing, though  it  is  certainly  that  in  effect,  especially  if  upon 
the  letterhead  (see  Section  30)  there  appears  any  sort  of 
advertising.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  very  name  of  the 
firm  or  individual  upon  the  letterhead  makes  it  advertising. 
Letters  are  of  many  kinds;  personal,  where  there  is  but 
one  letter  of  the  kind  written  to  one  individual;  form, 
whereby  any  one  of  many  different  methods  of  duplication 
(see  Chapter  XVI  for  details)  of  the  same  message,  or  prac- 
tically the  same  message,  is  conveyed  to  more  than  one  per- 
son, upon  the  ordinary  letterhead  or  in  a  style  simulating 
the  ordinary  letterhead;  novel,  where  the  ordinary  types  of 
letterhead  are  combined  with  novel  ideas  as  to  folding, 
die-cutting,  addition  of  pages,  in  which  event  it  becomes 
known  by  many  different  names  according  to  the  habit  of 
the  person  speaking;  as:  Sales  Letterhead,  Vitalized  Letter- 
head, Multipage  Letterhead,  Four-page  Sales  Letter,  ]\lulti- 
page  Illustrated  Letter,  Six-page  Letterhead,  Pictorialized 
Letterhead,  and  so  on.  These  will  be  treated  in  succeed- 
ing sections,  but  at  this  point  we  shall  present  tlie  essential 
principles  underlying  all  forms  of  direct  advertising  by  an 
analysis  of  the  sales  letter,  which  is  the  basic  form  of  direct 
advertising.  Attention  should  be  called  to  the  fact  that 
every  letter,  excepting  only  strictly  personal  communica- 
tions such  as  love  letters,  etc.,  is  practically  a  sales  letter. 
Even  an  adjustment  letter,  a  letter  that  is  attempting  to 
placate  a  customer  for  delay  in  delivery,  or  to  adjust  a 
financial  discrepancy  or  difficulty,  when  properly  written  is. 


44  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

in  reality,  a  sales  letter,  for  its  object  is  directly,  or  in- 
directly, the  making  of  sales.  Since  there  are,  however, 
several  volumes  on  the  wide  subject  of  letters  in  general 
and  sales  letters  in  particular,  which  are  readily  obtainable, 
we  need  but  deal  in  this  work  with  the  fundamentals  which 
connect  this  form  of  advertising  with  the  problems  before 
us. 

27.  Analysis  and  Function  of  a  Sales  Letter. — I  have 
something  to  sell  which  I  have  reason  to  believe  you  would 
want  to  buy  if  you  knew  about  it.  Upon  that  condition  is 
built  every  successful  sales  letter,  and  upon  the  same  prin- 
ciples that  you  build  your  successful  sales  letter  do  you 
build — with  as  little  loss  as  possible  of  the  element  of  per- 
sonal appeal — every  successful  piece  of  direct  advertising. 
What  would  be  the  natural  thing  under  the  circumstances 
just  referred  to,  if  you  and  I — speaking  acquaintances — 
were  located  next  door  to  each  other  in  the  same  office 
building?  I  would  step  into  your  office  and  tell  j'ou  what 
I  had  to  offer,  and  if  you  evinced  interest  I  would  name 
prices  and  terms.  You  would  probably  ask  to  see  a  sample 
or  find  out  the  brand,  if  an  advertised  line,  and  so  on.  The 
sale  would  probably  be  completed  right  then  and  there.  As 
I  watched  your  face  I  could  gauge  my  talk  accordingly;  if 
the  telephone  rang  I  could  stop  while  you  were  busy  at 
the  wire  and  after  you  had  rung  off  resume  the  con- 
versation. The  sales  letter,  however,  has  not  all  of  these 
advantages;  it  must  do  all  its  work  without  the  writer's 
brains  at  hand  to  help  when  it  is  delivered,  and  it  is  there- 
fore harder  to  v»^rite  than  to  deliver  the  sales  message. 

The  first  step  in  the  sales  letter  is  to  "get  in  step"  with 
the  reader.  Do  not  antagonize  him  if  you  can  possibly 
avoid  it.  Having  secured  the  agreement  of  your  reader 
with  your  first  thought,  lead  him  to  the  next  and  have  him 
agree  with  that  and  your  succeeding  statements  until  you 
have  successfully  led  him  through  interest  and  desire  up  to 
action.  In  the  ordinary  letter  you  work  but  witii  words,  usu- 
ally typewritten  or  processed  to  imitate  typewriting.  In  tlie 
multi-page  letters  and  sales  letterheads  you  have  pictures 


CLASSIFICATIONS  45 

and  color  at  your  command.  Sometimes  pictures  are  scat- 
tered through  the  typewriting  on  a  form  letter,  though  this 
is  not  the  rule,  and,  generally,  is  not  to  be  desired. 

Summed  up,  then,  a  sales  letter  is  a  message  about  a  prod- 
uct or  service  written  by  the  seller  and  delivered  direct  to 
the  buyer.  The  big  feature  that  differentiates  it  from  pub- 
lication, electric  sign,  painted  wall  and  similar  forms  of 
advertising  is  its  personal  appeal — it  is  direct  from  the 
writer  to  the  reader  with  practically  no  extraneous  mat- 
ter to  divert  attention  as  in  the  case  of  other  forms  of  ad- 
vertising. All  other  forms  of  direct  advertising  are  but  the 
sales  letter  illustrated,  empliasized  by  color  contrasts,  made 
more  emphatic  by  mechanical  devices  such  as  folds,  bind- 
ings, mailing  covers,  and  so  on.  In  Chapter  X  we  take  up 
minutely  the  writing  of  all  direct  advertising,  and  that 
should  be  referred  to  in  connection  with  this  section. 

Especial  attention  should,  at  this  point,  be  called  to  the 
fact  that  a  sales  message  may  be  sent  to  more  than  one 
person  and  still  be  personal.  For  example,  in  1918,  "a 
sales  message"  to  every  soldier  of  the  American  Expedi- 
tionary Forces  written  by  King  George  of  England,  repro- 
duced in  facsimile,  and  handed  to  each  soldier,  was  in  effect 
as  personal  as  though  the  King  had  written  the  same  note 
to  each  of  the  million  men  individually.  With  the  preced- 
ing facts  in  mind,  and  also  keeping  before  us  the  general 
function  of  a  letter  which  is  to  convey  a  message — usually 
brief  as  compared  with  books,  booklets,  portfolios,  and  other 
forms  of  direct  advertising — we  believe  the  basic  ground- 
work of  all  forms  of  direct  advertising  will  be  easily  ar- 
rived at  in  the  sections  following.  See  Sections  137  and 
138  for  results. 

28.  Sizes  of  Letterheads. — The  regulation — we  might 
almost  say  standardized — size  for  a  business  letterhead  sheet 
is  Syo  inches  wide  by  11  inches  in  height.  ]\Iulti-page  let- 
terheads are  almost  invariably  multiples  of  this  size.  Oc- 
casionally what  is  known  as  the  "Monarch"  size  of  letter- 
head is  used,  which  measures  7  inches  wide  by  10%  inches 
high.     This  matter  of  size  is  mentioned  here  because  it 


46  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

emphasizes  why  some  forms  of  direct  advertising  are  called 
"conventional"  or  ''standardized."  Custom  has  made  it 
proper  to  use  these  two  sizes,  although  the  size  first  men- 
tioned is  used  almost  entirely.  Letter-filing  cabinets  and 
folders  are  made  to  accommodate  the  8i/^  x  11  size.  More 
than  90  per  cent  of  all  the  letterheads  reaching  the  writer's 
desk  in  a  period  of  many  years  measured  81/2  x  11,  with 
the  remaining  10  per  cent  almost  entirely  divided  between 
the  "Monarch"  and  the  half-sheet  letterhead — 81/2x5% 
inches. 

29.  Other  Forms  Not  So  Well  Standardized.— With 
reference  to  Section  28  let  no  one  think  that  all  the  other 
forms  which  we  have  listed  in  Section  24  are  as  well  stan- 
dardized and  as  strictly  "conventional"  as  the  letter  and 
letterhead.  We  are  considering  the  letter  and  the  letter- 
head together  because  they  are  so  closely  intertwined  as  to 
make  this  plan  preferable.  It  is  also  a  fact  that  the  make- 
up of  the  letter  itself  upon  the  letterhead,  as  to  location  of 
date,  salutation,  body,  signature,  method  of  running  the 
type  as  to  location,  place  for  heading,  advertisements,  etc., 
is  almost  as  thoroughly  standardized  and  conventional  as 
the  size  of  the  letterhead  itself. 

In  Appendix  A  j-ou  will  find  listed  the  twenty-two  stand- 
ard sizes  of  booklets,  folders,  and  circulars  which  will  cut 
without  waste  from  regular  sizes  of  papers  as  they  have 
been  standardized  by  the  leading  paper  manufacturers. 
Appendix  B  gives  you  the  standardized  sizes  of  commercial 
and  government  envelopes,  Avhile  Appendix  C  shows  the 
standardized  sizes  and  weiglits  of  all  kinds  of  papers. 
These  so-called  standardized  pieces,  referred  to  in  Section 
24,  are  standardized  by  custoxM  only;  that  is,  it  is  usual  for 
a  booklet  to  be  not  quite  so  wide  as  it  is  high,  and  so  on. 
Occasionally  custom  may  be  disregarded,  though,  as  a  rule, 
it  is  bettor  to  follow  the  usual  conventions. 

30.  Relation  of  Letterhead  to  Letters. — Letterheads  are 
the  physical  form  for  carrying  letters  after  they  have  been 
written.  Tlie  sizes  are  as  set  forth  in  Section  28,  almost 
exclusively,  but  the  ways  in  which  the  lelterliead  may  be 


I'ig.  7. — Variations  of  the  ordinary  form  of  Icttorlieads, 
together  with  one  printed  four-page  letterhead.  See  text  for 
details. 


Fi<r.  8. — The  scrio>  idea  is  often  dosiraltlc  in  tlie  u-e  of  fonr-pape 
letterheads.  How  two  firms  have  adopted  this  idea  is  illustrated 
above. 


CLASSIFICATIONS  47 

used  for  "direct"  advertising  purposes  are  legion.  Fig. 
7  at  the  left  shows  two  letterheads'  of  Fitzpatrick  Brothers. 
One  has  down  the  left-hand  margin  four  of  their  products 
reproduced  in  blue  and  red  in  the  original.  Note  how 
much  more  advertising  value  this  letterhead  has  as  com- 
pared with  the  other  one.  To  the  right  of  the  Fitz- 
patrick letterheads  we  find  two  single  sheet  illustrated  let- 
terheads (reverse  blank  in  both  cases).  One  of  them  is 
what  is  known  as  a  "half-tone"  letterhead  picturing  the 
cash-carrier  of  the  Lamson  Company ;  the  other  is  a  special 
design,  "Flash  Your  Rush  Orders  to  Us,"  made  to  enhance 
the  value  of  a  special  circularizing  with  this  "form"  let- 
ter. The  Lamson  Company  uses  the  letterhead  for  its  regu- 
lar correspondence  and  usual  sales  letters,  while  in  the  case 
of  the  Central  Refining  Company  (note  that  name  and  ad- 
dress, usually  "conventionally"  placed  at  the  top  of  the 
sheet,  is  here  shown  very  small  in  the  lower  left-hand  cor- 
ner) this  "stunt"  letterhead  is  a  means  to  drive  home  the 
argument  of  the  sales  letter  itself.  At  the  top  of  Fig. 
7  we  find  the  front  and  at  the  bottom  two  inside  pages  (last 
page  blank)  of  a  9  x  12,  four-page,  illustrated  sales  letter- 
head with  a  tip-on  return  postal  card.  These  examples  show 
the  usual  uses  of  special  forms  of  letterheads  to  "put 
over"  special  sales  messages. 

The  letterhead  of  the  Direct  Mail  Advertising  Associa- 
tion, also  shown  on  this  plate,  is  what  is  known  as  a 
"Monarch"  size  (see  Section  28).  In  this  case  the  Associa- 
tion sells  its  next  annual  convention  by  carrying  a  line  or 
two  about  it  on  the  bottom  of  all  letterheads  used  for  several 
weeks  prior  to  the  convention.  As  for  the  relation  of  the 
kinds  of  paper  used  to  the  message,  see  Section  317. 

31.  The  Series  Idea  in  Letterheads. — Fig.  8  illustrates 
the  several  pages  of  two  of  a  series  of  four-page  illustrated 
sales  letters  being  sent  out  by  the  California  Almond  Grow- 
ers' Exchange.  Each  carries  with  it  the  main  heading  in 
gold,  "Golden  Chain  of  Co-operation,"  and  in  each  in- 
stance note  there  is  an  ellipse — suggesting  the  chain — but 
the  illustration  within  the  ellipse  in  one  instance  shows  a 


48  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

little  girl  with  a  basket  of  almonds,  and  in  the  other  instance 
bears  the  photograph  of  a  window  display.  In  one  the 
entire  four  pages  were  used  (not  illustrated),  while  in  the 
other  only  the  first  and  third  pages  were  used  (not  illus- 
trated), leaving  the  second  and  fourth  blank.  By  use  of 
the  same  general  type  of  letterhead  and  illustration  frame 
the  reader  is  taught  subconsciously  in  this  instance. 

You  need  not  use  the  same  frame  for  your  illustration 
to  execute  physically  the  series  idea.  From  the  lower  part 
of  Fig.  8  you  will  note,  for  instance,  the  first  page  of  two 
different  four-page  letterheads  issued  by  an  electric  ven- 
tilating company.  They  secure  a  "family"  resemblance  by 
using  the  same  colors  and  general  physical  make-up.  There 
is  also  shown  one  of  these  letterheads  opened  up,  pages  2 
and  3  being  utilized  while  page  4  is  left  blank,  except  for  a 
copyright  line,  this  reproduction  being  made  by  permis- 
sion. Another  firm  "gets  over"  the  "family"  idea  by  the 
unvarying  use  of  the  same  colored  paper ;  in  the  instance 
in  mind,  a  bright  golden-rod  bond  paper  is  used.  In  this 
connection  see  Section  319.  Physically,  the  series  idea  can 
often  be  used  to  advantage. 

32.  Special-fold  and  Die-cut  Letterheads. — Fig.  9  il- 
lustrates how  special  folds  and  die-cut  letterheads  may  be 
used.  The  Demuth  letterheads  have  a  flap  3  inches  deep 
at  the  top,  which  lifted  in  one  specimen  is  reproduced  in 
colors,  with  a  suggestion  of  a  poster  background,  a  speci- 
men of  the  concern's  poster,  or  billboard.  The  letterhead 
of  Thomas  Dreier  shows  the  four-page  letterhead  opening 
like  a  calendar  rather  than  like  a  book ;  in  other  words, 
the  second  page  is  reached  by  lifting  the  first  one  up 
rather  than  by  turning  it  over  like  the  leaf  of  a  book. 
Die-cutting  a  letterhead  is  merely  the  cutting  out,  by 
means  of  a  specially  made  die,  of  some  part  of  the  letterhead 
for  display  purposes.  This  cut-out  part  subtly  suggests  to 
the  reader  that  there  is  something  underneath  and  appeals 
to  his  curiosity.  See  Section  264.  See  also  Section  139  for 
results. 

33.  Variations   of  the   Physical   Form  of  Letters  by 


w 


i^L 


Kif,'-  9- — Those  rpproscnt  just  a  few  of  tlie  special  folds  possible: 
others  are  illustrated  ou  Fiji.  7<1.  The  Dreier  letterhead  is  on  a 
deckle-edjred  I  note  the  frayed  deckle  edfie)  book  paper.  The  others 
are  on  coated  jiapers  to  take  the  half-tones. 


Kljl     Off    Ihr     I'o-I     Cin'i 

),,n    W 

amp 

,-     1/ 

n7- 

:,|||i;;r;,— : 

llan.l      \,|.!„ 

ini:i;  Tniu. 

Williciil    nbUsa 

im.H.  ■" 

|.,..,.r.  .1 

^^ 

|«,  l,,-,.i„.uil,ns  li.,  ,.f ,,_^.          ,:. "    ■?■;"■"•'-    I    j 

u«  lurlUcr  iiiit. 

^fpir  ■ 

^        ■ <-..       i     1 

r" 

, 

1 

--Ajdrr's-ogfiipKeda*— ^         ^^ 

1    ^ 

.n^f5pK, 

■ 

^ 

Fig.  10. — A.  The  first  patje  of  a  notohead-size  letterhead.  Tijiiies 
2  and  .3  are  blank,  hut  ])a<i;e  4  carries  a  printed  description  oi  tlie 
booklet  advertised  in  the  letter.  See  Section  2()!)  in  text  for  ref- 
erence to  card  illustrated  above. 


Fig.  11. — Four  methods  of  reproducing  form  letters  are  illustrated 
above.  B.  Either  typewritten,  or  multiple-typewritten.  C.  Printed 
from  printer's  regular  type.  D.  Multigraphed  and  filled-in.  E.  Printed 
from  imitation  typewriter  type.     See  text  for  further  details. 

49 


50  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Changing  the  Method  of  Reproduction. — While  in  our 

plan  we  do  not  take  up  the  subject  of  reproduction  until 
we  reach  Chapter  XVI,  still  there  are  some  variations  in 
physical  form  of  letters  caused  by  variations  in  methods  of 
reproduction.  Fig.  10  A  illustrates  a  note-size  letterhead, 
made  by  folding  once  an  8^2  x  11  sheet  making  a  51/0x8 
letterhead.  The  heading  is  in  black  only,  and  there  is  no 
date  or  salutation  other  than  "Good  Morning"  spaced  and 
centered.  There  is  a  facsimile  pen-written  signature,  ap- 
parently in  tTiis  ease  reproduced  by  the  process  of  zinc 
etching.  For  details  see  Section  306.  This  is  an  example 
of  what  is  knowai  as  a  general  "circular  letter."  Page  4, 
not  illustrated,  is  a  full  page  of  type,  broken  up  neatly  into 
little  blocks,  of  course  describing  the  premium  book  offered. 

Fig.  11  B  is  a  regular  814  x  11  letterhead,  and  it  has 
every  appearance  of  having  been  personally  written;  it 
has  in  lieu  of  the  date,  "Fine,  Thank  You,"  the  paragraph 
marks  are  in  red,  the  rest  is  in  black  ink.  The  signature  is 
in  purple  and  written  by  the  dictator  or  some  one  able  to 
duplicate  his  signature.  Fig  11  B  is  shown  particularly  to 
emphasize  the  point  made  in  Section  27,  for  it  is  not  one 
whit  more  personal  than  the  messages  contained  in  Fig.  10  A 
and  Fig.  HE.  It  may  even  have  been  produced  on  an 
automatic  typewriter.  See  Section  328,  Chapter  XVI,  for 
details.  Fig.  11  E  is  6  x  9  in  size,  because  it  was  sent  out 
clipped  to  the  front  of  a  book  of  that  size.  It  is  printed 
throughout  at  one  impression  in  a  purple  ink.  No  date,  it 
starts  oflp  "Dear  Reader,"  and  since  its  theme  is  the  cremat- 
ing of  bodies  it  is  surely  a  personal  message. 

Fig.  11  D,  6^/4  X  9  inches  in  size,  is  what  is  known  as  a 
multigraphed  letter  (see  Section  329),  and  has  been  tilled  in 
with  a  name  and  address,  though  not  so  accurately  as  to  de- 
ceive any  one.  Fig.  11  C  illustrates  tiie  "Monarch"  size  of 
letterhead  and  a  straight  printed  letter  thereon.  For  other 
folds  see  Section  262. 

34.  Letterheads  Should  Fold  to  Fit  Envelopes. — In 
planning  to  use  any  size  or  form  of  letterhead  it  should  be 
confined  to  a  size  that  when  properly  folded  will  fit  neatly 


CLASSIFICATIONS  61 

into  a  standard  size  of  commercial  or  government  envelope. 
In  this  connection  see  Appendix  B. 

35.  While  Primary,  Form  Letters  Not  Bulk  of  Direct 
Advertising. — While  form,  or  processed,  or  circular  letters 
are  primary,  and  the  easiest  to  prepare  from  the  physical 
standpoint,  they  do  not  constitute  the  bulk  of  direct  ad- 
vertising, in  the  present  day,  according  to  reliable  authori- 
ties. Homer  J.  Buckley,  past  president  of  the  Direct  Mail 
Advertising  Association,  estimated  in  1911  that  52  per 
cent  of  all  letters  mailed  in  the  United  States  were  "form" 
letters.  Their  continued  and  enormous  use  and  misuse  have 
caused  them  to  fall  into  disnse  somewhat  in  later  years 
and  various  printed  forms  now  appear  to  be  in  the  lead. 
Even  in  1920  one  of  the  leading  national  advertisers,  also 
a  heavy  direct  advertiser  (The  Fabrikoid  Company),  ad- 
mitted that  more  direct  inquiries  were  secured  from  a 
form  letter  with  a  sample  than  from  any  other  form  of  ad- 
vertising. This  experience  has  been  confirmed  by  many 
others. 

36.  Importance  of  Physical  Form  of  the  Letter. — Louis 
Victor  Eytinge,  in  an  advertising  booklet  for  the  Mortimer 
Company  of  Canada,  gives  an  excellent  example  of  how  im- 
portant is  the  physical  form  of  a  letterhead.  He  tells  of 
a  great  American  publishing  house  which  increased  its  mail 
sales  in  one  line  by  an  improved  letterhead,  changing  from 
a  type  ' '  dry-as-dust "  to  a  handsome  illustrated  letterhead 
in  several  colors.  In  the  same  booklet  he  cites  another  in- 
stance where  he  designed  a  special  letterhead  for  a  manu- 
facturer of  school  slates  at  a  cost  of  $108  and  the  first 
month's  business  following  the  use  of  the  new  design  pro- 
duced returns  greater  by  $12,000  than  during  any  previous 
thirty-day  period.     See  also  Sections  302  and  332. 

37.  The  Use  of  the  Extra  Pages  on  a  Multi-page  Let- 
terhead.— "While  the  examples  shown  have  indicated  the 
uses  for  the  extra  pages  of  the  multi-page  letterheads,  and 
in  some  cases  six  pages  and  eight  pages  have  been  used 
though  four  is  the  rule,  let  us  emphasize  some  of  the 
most  frequent  uses.     The  multi-page  letterhead  is  used  to 


52  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

permit  longer  sales  talk,  the  use  of  illustrations,  and  also 
makes  it  possible  to  put  over  two  or  more  associated  ideas 
in  the  same  letter.  For  example,  a  certain  desk  manufac- 
turer issues  a  four-page  letter  monthly.  On  one  page  he 
reproduces  some  of  his  desks,  on  the  inside  pages  he  gives 
his  dealers  suggestions  how  to  feature  them,  and  on  another 
page  he  reproduces  a  specimen  advertisement. 

Take  the  Almond  Growers'  letterhead  shown  on  Fig.  8. 
In  one  case  the  letter  is  too  long  for  one  page  and  is  com- 
pleted on  the  second  page,  the  facing  or  third  page  is  a 
large  illustration  of  advertisements,  window  display  ma- 
terial, cards,  etc.,  which  are  available,  the  fourth  page 
showing  the  ribbons  used  on  each  bag  of  their  almonds. 

The  use  of  extra  pages  eliminates  the  necessity  of  a  sep- 
arate inclosure,  which  may  be  lost ;  it  permits  your  printed 
circular  to  retain  the  general  size  and  shape  of  a  standard 
letterhead,  and  on  the  inner  pages  you  may  feature  speci- 
mens of  your  work  if  you  are  a  printer,  engraver,  artist, 
or  direct-advertising  specialist,  or  special  items  in  your  line 
or  unusual  opportunities  if  you  are  a  real-estate  man,  and 
so  on. 

One  firm  of  refrigerator  manufacturers,  for  instance,  had 
a  series  of  four-page  letterheads,  each  featuring  some  par- 
ticular industry :  in  writing  regular  letters  to  a  butcher  a 
letterhead  was  used  illustrating  refrigerators  for  butchers, 
on  pages  2  and  3  (page  4  is  usually  left  blank)  ;  in  writing 
a  florist,  another  design,  and  so  on. 

This  plan  has  one  disadvantage,  it  should  be  noted:  some- 
times regular  mail  is  cast  aside  by  a  careless  recipient  who 
may  think  it  is  an  advertising  or  circular  letter.  Schools 
use  the  inside  pages  to  picture  some  of  their  successful 
graduates ;  paint  companies  to  picture  buildings  painted 
with  their  products;  manufacturers  to  picture  the  making 
or  inspection  of  their  manufactured  goods,  and  so  on.  One 
Chamber  of  Commerce  uses  the  four-page  letterhead  to 
prove  its  strategic  geographical  location.  Charities  use 
such  letterheads  to  reach  their  prospects,  and  book  pub- 
lishers have  long  used  them  to  push  the  hardest  of  all  sell- 


CLASSIFICATIONS  53 

ing  propositions — books.  Their  possibilities  are  almost  un- 
limited and  but  for  lack  of  space  many  more  users  and 
uses  might  be  cited. 

38.  Books  and  Booklets. — Calkins  and  Holden  in  "Mod- 
ern Advertising"  say:  "A  booklet  is  usually  popular  in 
style  and  non-technical,  often  a  talk  about  the  good  points 
of  an  article  advertised,  vv^hile  a  catalogue  is  a  trade  list, 
giving  technical  descriptions,  and  serves  as  a  book  of  ref- 
erence." The  work  quoted  from  was  first  published  in 
1905  and  revised  and  republished  in'  1912. 

To-day,  quite  frequently,  we  find  the  most  abstruse  prob- 
lems taken  up  in  books  or  booklets  and  we  find  catalogues 
(detailed  in  sections  43  to  47  inclusive)  devoting  more 
and  more  space  to  material  that  will  make  them  "books  of 
reference."     Thus  do  times  change. 

By  consensus  of  opinion  nowadays  a  book  is  tisually  con- 
sidered as  a  hound  pamphlet  with  a  stiff  or  semi-stiff  cover; 
if,  however,  the  cover  is  of  paper,  or  of  a  light-weight 
fimsy  board,  then  it  is  iisual  to  refer  to  it  as  a  booki.et. 
Sometimes  a  booklet  is  also  an  envelope  inclosure  or  a  pack- 
age insert.  The  words  "book"  and  "booklet"  are  used 
almost  interchangeably  by  modern  advertising  men  and 
women  and  there  is  really  little  to  be  gained  by  splitting 
hairs  over  the  distinction. 

A  booklet  usually  contains  at  least  eight  pages  and  is 
bound  like  a  book.  By  that  is  meant  its  pages  open  up 
book-fashion  by  reason  of  a  staple,  stitch,  touch  of  glue,  or 
other  method  of  attaching  the  sheets  at  the  left  in  the 
center  of  each  slieet.  (Note — a  sheet  is  two  leaves  in  the 
book  itself;  for  example,  in  an  eight-page  book,  pages  one 
and  two  and  seven  and  eight,  binding  tliem  with  a  pin  in 
the  center,  amateur-style,  for  demonstration  purposes,  are 
the  same  sheet  of  paper;  more  of  i}\ese  technical  details 
will  be  found  in  Section  345 — as  contradistinguished  from 
tlie  ordinary  newspaper,  for  example,  the  sheets  of  wliich 
are  not  bound  and  will  fly  away  as  you  turn  the  pages  if 
you  are  not  careful  to  hold  the  left-hand  edge.  These  are 
hair-line  distinctions  and  subject  to  broad  interpretation. 


54  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Many  Bibles  are  bound  with  a  flimsy  cover,  yet  most  as- 
suredly  they  are  always  referred  to  as  "  books. ' '  The  Wil- 
liam Penn  "pamphlet"  (the  ancient  title  for  "booklet," 
apparently)  referred  to  in  Chapter  1,  page  3,  was  either 
a  booklet  or  an  envelope  inclosure  according  to  its  size, 
method  of  distribution,  and  style  of  binding. 

"The  booklet,"  says  F.  R.  Morison,  "is  the  golden  mean 
between  the  circular  (mailing  card,  see  Section  63)  and 
the  catalogue.  All  three  have  their  place :  but  greater  than 
either  the  catalogue  of  the  circular  is  the  booklet." 

The  reason  Mr.  Morison  argues  thus  is  that  the  catalogue 
is  usually  a  bulky  list  filled  with  descriptive  matter,  while 
the  circular  gets  attention  in  an  almost  undignified  manner, 
in  many  cases,  without  having  space  for  the  necessary  de- 
tails or  minute  "reason-why"  copy.  The  greater  length  of 
the  booklet  copy  permits  the  booklet  to  proceed  to  the 
finish  of  the  story,  whatever  it  may  be.  Or  putting  it  an- 
other way,  the  difference  between  a  booklet  and  a  cata- 
logue is  that  the  booklet  is  usually  an  extended  advertise- 
ment of  a  single  article,  line,  or  service,  while  the  catalogue 
is  an  assembling  of  many  such  advertisements,  as  a  rule. 

39.  Kinds  of  Books  and  Booklets. — There  are  many 
different  kinds  of  books  and  booklets,  some  of  which  are 
of  very  little  direct-advertising  value,  as,  for  instance,  the 
yearbooks  published  by  many  different  organizations.  The 
purpose  of  these  yearbooks  is  to  pass  information  to  the 
members  and  quite  often  to  serve  as  a  background  for 
further  membership  campaigns ;  in  this  latter  instance  they 
are  most  certainly  direct  advertisements.  "Humanizing  a 
Great  Industry,"  illustrated  on  Fig.  12,  is  an  example  of 
how  one  of  the  great  Chicago  packers  utilizes  the  booklet 
idea.  This  booklet  is  51/2  x  8i^  inches  in  size,  32  pages 
and  cover;  it  is  a  "human  interest"  story  of  Armour  & 
Company,  written  by  Kate  J.  Adams,  sociologist  and  news- 
paper writer.  It  contains  no  fewer  than  46  different  illus- 
trations. Its  purpose  is  to  show  what  the  firm  of  Armour 
&  Company  is  doing  for  Armour  employees — to  sell  Ar- 
mour's as  a  place  to  work,  in  other  words. 


Fig.  12. — Several  sizes  and  stvles  of  Ixioklof-;  are  illuitratod 
liere.  See  text  for  details.  "A  Message  from  Marietta"'  printed 
on  wliitt'  pnpor  was  tipjied  on  tlio  cover  >tn(k  of  the  Ixioklet. 


FIl:'.  \-i. — Tlic  honklcts  liere  piftiircd  are  aimed  at  iiicii.  wniiun. 
and  cliildren:  llie  motor-car  Isook  is  ititciidod  to  reach  tlie  men.  tlie 
piano  l)o()klet  tlie  women,  and  the  home  hookh-t  hotli  men  an;! 
women.  "'I'lie  Home  M;i,unet""  is  diiccled  a1  yoiin^  men  and 
tlirough  them  their  ])arents.     See  text  for  (h'lails. 


CLASSIFICATIONS  55 

Another  Chicago  packing  concern,  Swift  &  Company, 
issues  a  yearbook  which  is  advertised  quite  freely  in  publi- 
cation advertisements.  It  shows  in  an  interesting  way  the 
moneys  received,  cost  of  doing  business,  and  similar  finan- 
cial matters,  the  purpose  of  this  latter  booklet  being  to 
demonstrate  to  the  public  that  Swift  &  Company  are  not 
profiteering. 

The  almanac,  if  not  the  parent  of  the  yearbook,  is  a 
form  of  it.  Originally  adopted  by  patent-medicine  com- 
panies, and  still  used  by  them  to-day,  it  has  waned  in  popu- 
larity until  it  is  now  rarely  seen. 

Fig.  14  illustrates  a  cover  and  a  specimen  page  of  an 
almanac  used  for  many  years  by  one  manufacturer  of  fer- 
tilizers sold  to  farmers.  Printers'  Ink,  for  January  28, 
1915,  contained  a  very  full  account  of  the  successful  use 
by  a  plow  manufacturer  of  the  yearbook  or  "sublimated 
almanac"  as  it  has  been  termed.  The  firm  represented 
by  the  latter  issued  100,000  of  these  yearbooks,  or  almanacs, 
and  since  it  has  been  in  business  for  ninety  years  and 
settled  upon  this  one  form  of  advertising  as  the  most  ef- 
fective, the  almanac  is,  according  to  Printers'  Ink,  a 
vehicle  worthy  of  careful  thought  in  planning  a  new 
campaign. 

Programs  are  booklets  akin  to  yearbooks,  the  cover  of 
the  Program  of  the  28th  Annual  Convention  of  the  Na- 
tional League  of  Commission  Merchants,  illustrated  on  Fig. 
12  (size  61/4  X  9i/>  inches),  is  an  example  of  this  type.  The 
"ragged"  appearing  edge  is  what  is  called  a  "deckle" 
edge,  as  we  shall  see  in  Chapter  XV.  In  this  particular 
program  advertising  space  was  sold  so  that  it  almost  falls 
into  the  class  of  theater  program  or  directory  advertising, 
but  is  included  here  to  bring  out  all  these  different  angles. 

"Thrift,"  the  "teeny"  book  on  Fig.  12,  measures  but  V/j 
X  2  inches  in  size.  It  has  20  pages  and  cover,  and  was 
published  by  Henry  L.  Doherty  &  Company,  a  New  York 
bond  house.  This  particular  booklet  pictured  was  received 
in  response  to  an  inquiry  sent  in  upon  reading  a  newspaper 
advertisement.     The  inquirer  felt  he  had  hardly  received 


56 


EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


Fig.  14. — The  F.  S.  TJoyster  Guano  Company  finds  the  almanac 
an  effective  method  of  building  and  retaining  the  good  will  of 
farmers.  In  addition  to  the  cover  a  typical  inside  page  is  shown. 
Note  the  use  of  testimonials.  The  almanac  is  "personalized"  by 
running  testimonials  from  users  of  the  company's  product.  Where 
it  is  possible,  testimonials  are  printed,  which  are  given  by  users 
of  the  product  in  the  territory  where  the  almanacs  are  distrib- 
uted.    Also  note  space  for  imprinting  dealer's  name  on  the  front. 

enough  for  the  two  cents  he  invested,  so  that  this  represents 
saving  too  much  on  the  booklet. 

Next  in  size  on  the  same  illustration  is  "The  j\Iorning 
Mail"  (size  2^/4  x  3)  which  contains  eight  pages  including 
the  cover.  It  is  a  miniature  reproduction,  so  far  as  the 
cover  goes,  of  a  monthly  house  organ  (see  Section  56)  pub- 
lished by  a  firm  of  direct-advertising  specialists.  It  wat^ 
distributed  at  the  Indianapolis  annual  convention  of  the 


CLASSIFICATIONS  57 

Associated  Advertising  Clubs  of  the  World  to  stimulate  in- 
terest in  this  particular  firm,  located  in  Indianapolis. 
Visitors  were  invited  to  call  at  the  office  of  this  concern  for 
a  full-sized  edition  of  the  house  organ. 

"A  Message  from  Marietta"  (see  Fig.  12)  is  actually  a 
book.  It  is  3  X  5%  inches  in  size,  but  it  has  a  stiff  board 
cover  and  is  bound  up  in  regular  book  form.  It  combines 
a  New  Year's  greeting  with  a  selling  message  and  contains 
only  a  few  pages. 

•  "Selling  Secrets"  (see  Fig..  12)  is  another  **baby"  book- 
let, measuring  only  3%  x  4%  inches.  It  contains  16  pages, 
including  the  cover;  its  object  is  to  teach  salesmen  in 
grocery  stores  and  the  like  how  to  sell  a  certain  brand  of 
flour. 

"The  Digest  and  the  Dealer"  we  include  on  Fig.  12  for 
it  represents  the  typical  "inclosure  size"  booklet.  It  is 
3%6  X  61/4  in  size.  (Note:  the  variation  of  a  sixteenth  of 
an  inch  or  even  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  size  is  due  to  the 
width  of  the  trim — the  uneven  edges  cut  off  by  the  printer 
just  before  the  books  are  completed  for  delivery  to  cus- 
tomer.) There  are  12  pages  and  a  separate  cover.  A  book- 
let of  this  style  will  slip  into  what  is  known  as  a  number 
6  or  a  6%  envelope  (see  Appendix  B)  and  is  ordinarily 
light  enough  not  to  need  additional  postage. 

Some  firms  are  using  what  is  known  as  a  number  10 
envelope;  where  they  do,  the  booklet  "Camp  Vail,"  shown 
on  Fig.  12,  may  be  inclosed  since  it  measures  3%  x  9  inches. 

Occasionally  a  booklet  is  given  an  unusual  appeal  physi- 
cally by  die-cutting  it.  "Put  the  Postman  on  your  Pay- 
roll" is  an  example  of  this.  Not  including  the  postman's 
head,  which  is  cut  out,  the  booklet  measures  SY^  x  7%.  "We 
shall  discuss  the  subject  of  die-cutting  in  Section  264. 

Fig.  13  illustrates  several  of  the  larger  forms  of  book- 
lets.    A  brief  description  will  suffice: 

"Hudson  Motor  Cars"  (size  7%  x  9^4  with  an  overhang- 
ing cover — note  the  deckle  edge  again — the  inside  pages 
measuring  7i/^x9)  is  part  yearbook,  part  catalogue,  and 
part  booklet. 


58  EFFECTIVE  .DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

''The  Interior  of  Your  Home,"  published  by  the  South- 
em  Pine  Association,  is  an  elaborate  booklet.  It  not  only 
has  the  overhanging  cover  like  the  Hudson  booklet,  but  has 
what  is  known  as  an  end  leaf  of  transparent  paper.  This, 
booklet  (size  of  cover  8%  x  IOI/2,  inside  pages  8%xl0 
inches)  is  designed  to  sell  the  recipient  upon  the  idea  of 
owning  his  own  home  and,  secondly,  to  have-  it  built  of  wood 
with  a  wooden  interior  and,  of  course,  this  concern's  prod- 
uct. The  booklet  is  sumptuously  illustrated,  printed  in 
colors  and  usually  mailed  out  to  those  who  reply  to  the. 
firm's  publication  advertisements. 

"The  Home  Magnet,"  9x12  inches,  32  pages  and  cover, 
is  published  by  the  Brunswick-Balke-CoUender  Company 
and  its  purpose  is  to  sell  billiard  tables  for  home  use. 

''Windsor  Pianos  and  Player  Pianos,"  8%  x  llVk,  is  the 
specific  booklet  and  catalogue  (combined)  on  this  subject 
published  by  Montgomery  Ward  &  Company,  thamail-order 
house,  as  a  supplement  to  their  regular  big  catalogue.  It 
has  32  pages,  is  illustrated  in  colors  throughout,  pictures 
the  wood  finishes  of  the  pianos  in  their  original  colors,  for 
example.  The  cover  is  embossed  and  has  a  tip-on  of  the 
music  room  scene. 

The  pieces  illustrated  on  Fig.  15  are  books  (under  the 
definition  set  down  in  Sectiotn  38)  for  they  are  all  bound  in 
stiff  covers — two  in  boards,  two  in  cloth,  one  in  imitation 
leather. 

''From  Ox  Cart  to  Aeroplane"  has  an  interesting  idea 
behind  it ;  it  is  a  book  issued  by  a  firm  of  hardware  dealers 
who  had  been  in  business  100  years.  Its  size  is  5%  x  8I/4 
inches  and  it  contains  50  pages. 

"The  Optimism  Book  for  Offices"  (size  5i/>  x  8)  contains 
64  pages  and  cover.  This  will  be  referred  to  again  in  Chap- 
ter XV. 

"Millingham's  Cat-Fooler"  by  Ellis  Parker  Butler, 
author  of  "Pigs  is  Pigs,"  has  every  appearance  of  a  book- 
let that  would  be  found  in  the  book  store  for  sale  at  a 
price.  It  is  in  reality  the  advertising  booklet  of  a  rubber 
hose  concern.     The  original  measures  about  4x6  inches 


Fig.  15. — These  stiff  covered  books  wliicli  are  Ik  injr  published  to- 
day for  advertisinij  purposes  show  a  wide  ranjje  of  appeal.  Even 
the  Ellis  Parker  Butler  book  is  a  piece  of  direct  advertising! 


pi„  10. — Spvpral  different  styles  of  catalogues  are  illustrated 
heref  'I'liev  ranjie  from  the  famous  TilVany  r>lue  ]?ook  to  tlie  loo~e- 
leaf  portfo'lio  form  of  the  Addresso<:rai)h  Company.  There  is  also 
ghown  the  use  of  the  "Miniature  Kdition"'  for  general  distribution. 
See  text  for  details. 


CLASSIFICATIONS  59 

and  contains  24  pages  and  stiff  board  covers.  It  is  illus- 
trated throughout  with  cartoons. 

"The  Story  of  Silk"  was  published  bj'-  Cheney  Brothers 
and  aside  from  references  to  their  business  it  is  in  reality 
the  story  of  silk  making  from  ancient  to  modern  times. 
Original  measures  6i/4  x  8i/4  inches.  It  contains  64  pages 
and  cover,  the  latter  being  cloth  over  board. 

"DuPont  Products,"  size  5x8,  is  bound  in  one  of  that 
firm's  products  known  as  Fabrikoid,  an  imitation  leather. 
The  DuPonts  having  at  the  time  this  book  was  originally 
published  (1917)  acquired  several  different  business  inter- 
ests, this  book  was  intended  to  inform  the  public  of  the 
various  concerns  which  the  DuPonts  controlled,  including 
not  only  the  powder  plants,  but  this  imitation  leather  plant, 
a  chemical  company,  a  celluloid  company,  and  a  paint  com- 
pany. We  include  the  book  at  this  late  date  to  show  that  it 
was  quite  evidently  a  part  of  a  preconceived  plan  to  lead  up 
to  a  discontinuance  of  the  other  brands — Arlington,  Harri- 
son's, and  so  on — and  to  substitute  "DuPont"  in  due  course 
of  time.  (While  this  is  being  written  [early  in  1920]  the 
old  brand  names  are  being  dropped.) 

Many  other  kinds  of  books  and  booklets  might  be  illus- 
trated, of  course,  but  our  purpose  here  is  only  to  suggest  the 
many  different  kinds.  Keen,  direct  advertisers  are  discov- 
ering new  fields  for  books  and  booklets  almost  daily. 
Though  not  illustrated  here,  we  would  like  to  refer  to  two 
unique  books  received  by  the  writer.  One  measured  ap- 
proximately 8i/l>  X  11  inches  in  size,  and  contained  a  little  in 
excess  of  one  thousand  pages,  therefore  being  about  3% 
inches  thick  across  the  back  binding.  It  was  entitled: 
"1000  Answers  to  1  Question"  and  reproduced  in  facsimile 
as  many  original  letters  received  by  one  popular  science 
magazine  asking  questions  of  the  editor.  It  had  for  its  pur- 
pose selling  advertising  men  upon  the  use  of  the  magazine 
for  their  advertising  campaigns,  and  we  understand  was 
put  out  at  a  cost  of  about  $20,000. 

"Discovering  New  Facts  About  Paper,"  the  other, 
also  comes  in  the  portfolio  classr  (see  Section  48)    for  it 


60  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

measures  11  x  14  inches  and  has  32  pages.  It  has  a  stiff 
board  binding,  with  a  small  tip-on  giving  the  title.  It  has 
for  its  purpose  the  "selling"  to  paper  buyers  of  an  exten- 
sive research  and  development  laboratory  installed  by  one 
of  the  world's  largest  makers  of  fine  papers,  which  was  in 
itself  an  innovation  in  the  paper  industry.  The  book  was 
written  by  Waldemar  Kaempffert  and  illustrated  by  Ver- 
non Howe  Bailey. 

40.  Function  of  Books  and  Booklets. — The  function  of 
books  and  booklets  is  to  deliver  an  extended  selling  message. 
Even  in  the  case  of  the  small  or  "baby"  booklets  the  mes- 
sage is  extensive  considering  the  size  of  the  booklet  in  which 
it  appears.  They  are  almost  universally  used  and  their 
use  approaches  the  "story  form"  of  advertising  which  ap- 
peals' to  every  one  from  childhood  to  old  age.  The  booklet 
is  the  primary  educational  form  of  direct  advertising  and 
many  properly  written  books  find  their  way  into  public  li- 
braries as  reliable  handbooks  on  certain  subjects. 

41.  Sizes  of  Books  and  Booklets. — There  is  no  limit  to 
the  size  for  the  book  or  booklet,  of  course,  but  in  working  out 
either  it  will  pay  any  one  to  follow  a  size  which  will  cut 
without  waste  from  standard  sheets  of  paper  stocks,  body 
and  cover  both.     In  this  connection  see  the  Appendices. 

42.  Results  from  Use  of  Booklets. — While  results  will 
be  taken  up  separately  (see  Chapter  V,  and  Part  Five  of 
this  book),  "Making  Letters  Pay  System"  contains  the  re- 
port of  a  test  which  showed  that  a  letter  inclosing  a  booklet 
pulled  7  per  cent  better  results  than  the  letter  alone.  The 
booklet  itself  seldom  furnishes  a  complete  campaign  as  in 
the  case  of  some  of  the  physical  forms  of  direct  advertising 
and,  therefore,  its  direct  results  are  hard  to  trace.  See  also 
Section  140. 

43.  Catalogues. — Section  38  gave  you  an  idea  of  what 
the  catalogue  is,  but  for  clarity  let  us  define  it  as :  .1  loose- 
leaf  or  hound  volume  giving  a  list  of  articles  or  services, 
usually  tog  ether- ivith  illnstrations  and  rather  complete  tech- 
nical descriptions.  Sometimes  ^  catalogue  contains  refer- 
ence data  so  as  to  make  it  more  valuable,  and  when  price 


CLASSIFICATIONS  61 

conditions  are  normal  it  is  usual  to  include  the  prices  in  a 
catalogue,  though  in  recent  years  it  has  been  more  general 
to  put  the  prices  in  a  separate  price  list. 

The  catalogue  is  one  of  the  oldest  forms  of  direct  adver- 
tising. Printers'  Ink,  November  11,  1920,  made  »this  com- 
ment upon  the  subject:  "The  birth  of  the  commercial 
catalogue  is  shrouded  in  the  obscurity  of  antiquity.  Judg- 
ing from  the  discoveries  of  archaeologists  in  their  excava- 
tions, it  would  seem  as  though  the  ancients  were  familiar 
with  the  catalogue  idea»  The  word,  itself,  is  of  Greek 
derivation  and  means  literally  'to  choose  down.'  The 
principle  of  listing  things  in  catalogue  fashion  for  sale  and 
for  other  purposes  was  employed  by  the  ancients. ' ' . 

Henry  Sampson's  "History  of  Advertising"  mentions  a 
tradesman  named  Jonathan  Holder,  a  haberdasher,  of  Lon- 
don, who  in  1679  issued  a  printed  list  of  articles  "kept  in 
stock  by  him." 

Montgomery  Ward  &  Company  in  1872  produced  one  of 
the  first  modern-day  mail-order  catalogues.  It  was  of  less 
than  one  hundred  pages,  about  31/2  x  7  inches.  Several 
other  American  firms,  following  the  Civil  War,  began  to 
take  up  the  catalogue  idea.  Butler  Brothers  initiated 
wholesaling  by  mail  with  their  catalogue  in  1878. 

To  use  a  homely  example,  the  catalogue  is  the  manufac- 
turer's, wholesaler's,  or  retailer's  time-table  of  what  he 
has  to  offer  as  compared  with  the  handsomely  printed  vaca- 
tion booklet  which  the  railroad  will  mail  you  next  summer. 

44.  Kinds  of  Catalogues. — Generally  speaking,  cata- 
logues are  divided  into  two  classes — bound  and  loose-leaf. 
In  the  first  class  they  are  like  books  and  booklets;  in  the 
latter  class  they  more  nearly  resemible"  bulletins,  to  be  de- 
scribed in  Section  53,  The  loose-leaf  catalogue,  theoret- 
ically speaking,  .may  be  revised  without  reprintins:,  but 
loose  sheets  all  too  often  are  not  inserted  in  the  catalogue 
by  the  holder,  with  the  result  that  the  loose-leaf  catalogue 
is  thrown  away  because  it  is  not  up  to  date.  A  variation  of 
this  latter  form  is  the  mailing  out  of  filing  folders  with  the 
loose  sheets  inserted. 


62  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Printers'  Ink,  March  29,  1917,  describes  one  of  these 
file-folder,  loose-leaf  catalogues  published  by  a  metal 
molding  concern;  this  will  be  further  referred  to  in  Sec- 
tion 54. 

Fig.  1&  illustrates  several  varieties  of  catalogues.  Those 
for  the  Addressograph  and  Sweet's  Chocolates  are  both 
loose-leaf  in  make-up. 

"Victor  Records,  1920,"  is  the  catalogue  of  the  Victor 
Talking  Machine  Company.  The  original  measures  5%  x 
714  and  it  is  five-eighths  of  an  inch  thick. 

The  small  book,  bound  in  flexible  leather  without  any 
wording  on  it,  front  or  back,  is  the  famous  Tiffany  Blue 
Book.  This  is  the  catalogue  of  Tiffany  &  Company,  New 
York  City,  and  you  will  find  it  advertised  on  the  first  page 
facing  cover  of  almost  every  magazine  you  may  pick  up. 
It  measures  4  x  4%  and  contains  128  pages  and  cover. 

Note  particularly  the  use  of  the  Miniature  or  Pocket 
Edition  in  connection  with  the  "Book  of  Better  Business," 
which  is  an  instance  of  a  catalogue  which  has  valuable  refer- 
ence data  in  addition  to  the  technical  details  of  the  line  of 
steel  office  furniture  and  filing  equipment.  The  full  sized 
edition  is  bound  in  cloth  and  the  pocket  size  in  paper.  The 
former  is  8I/2  x  11  in  size  and  the  latter  5  x  6%q  inches. 

"Sweet's  Chocolates"  is  unusual  inasmuch  as  it  violates 
the  conventional  method  as  to  size  and  arrangement.  It 
measures  7i/4  inches  wide  and  4^4  high,  the  publisher 
doubtless  using  these  proportions  because  they  suited  the 
shape  of  candy  boxes  better  than  the  usual  higher-than- 
wide  proportions. 

45.  Function  of  Catalogues. — The  accepted  dictionary 
definition  of  "catalogue"  really  describes  its  function  better 
than  it  describes  the  book  as  used  commercially  to-day  ;  that 
is,  "to  list  (catalogue)  items."  Most  catalogues  are  in- 
tended to  inform  recipients  as  to  models,  styles,  brands, 
and  technical  details  and  descriptions.  While  sometimes 
"selling"  copy  is  put  into  them,  usually  they  are  somewhat 
like  the  order-taking  salesman:  they  say  to  the  reader: 
"We  make   'umpty-steen'   models,    as   listed   herein,    the 


CLASSIFICATIONS  63 

measurements  of  which  are  thus  by  thus,  and  in  ease  you 
want  to  order  the  proper  code  word  is  Soandso. " 

Occasionally  the  catalogue  is  primarily  for  the  educa- 
tion of  the  distributor,  and  only  indirectly  for  use  in  sell- 
ing users  or  consumers.  A  brush  manufacturer  {Printers' 
Ink  Monthly,  October,  1920)  uses  his  catalogue  as  a  sales 
manual  to  educate  his  house-to-house  canvassers. 

The  more  "educating"  that  the  catalogue  has  to  do,  the 
more  nearly  does  it  approach  the  book  and  booklet  class. 
E,  A.  Bowman  &  Company  (see  Printers'  Ink,  August  2, 
1917)  furnish  an  instance  of  a  manufacturing  concern 
making  its  catalogue  so  much  of  a  salesman  as  to  educate 
dealers  and  increase  sales  materially. 

Occasionally  catalogues  are  split  up  into  sections  in  order 
to  permit  broader  distribution  and  revive  interest,  or  to 
save  money.  The  mail-order  houses — and  the  catalogue 
is  the  backbone  of  the  mail-order  house  campaign  in  every 
instance — frequently  use  this  means.  A  man  writes  in  for 
the  mail-order  house  catalogue  and  says  he  is  interested  in 
tombstones,  for  example.  Instead  of  sending  him  a  mam- 
moth catalogue  of  1,000  pages  or  more  containing  every- 
thing, which  might  confuse  him,  a  special  "tombstone" 
catalogue  is  sent  him.  Or  working  it  the  other  way,  after 
the  house  has  mailed  to  a  man,  or  woman,  a  complete  cata- 
logue, it  mails  out  in  the  early  spring  a  "White  Goods" 
catalogue  to  sell  spring  items,  or  "Tools  and  Garden  Seeds" 
catalogue,  and  so  on.     See  also  Section  194  and  Fig.  66. 

46.  Sizes  of  Catalogues. — AVliile  sizes  of  catalogues 
which  can  be  printed  are  governed  by  the  same  rules  apply- 
ing to  books  and  booklets  (see  Appendix  A),  at  least  two 
important  organizations  have  adopted  standardized  sizes 
for  their  use.  The  American  Institute  of  Architects  has 
standardized  upon  the  8i/>  x  11  size,  while  the  National  As- 
sociation of  Purchasing  Agents  has  standardized  on  7VL>  x 
10%,  recommending  tliat,  where  a  smaller  size  of  catalogue 
is  necessary,  it  be  approximately  one-half  that  size,  or  5i/i  x 
71/2  inches.  This  latter  association  at  one  time  fathered 
the  idea  of  three  "standardized"  sizes;  viz:  6x9,  71/0  x 


64  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

10%  and  8  X  11  but  are  now  trying  to  get  down  to  one 
size, 

47.  Results  from  Use  of  Catalogues. — The  enor- 
mous business  done  by  mail-order  houses,  whose  catalogues 
represent  their  sole  salesmen,  speaks  for  the  results  which 
may  be  secured  from  using  a  catalogue.  Apropos,  the  fol- 
lowing quotation  from  the  general  manager  of  the  Victor 
Talking  Machine  Company  is  interesting:  "I  still  remem- 
ber the  reply  I  made  to  my  old  San  Francisco  employers 
and  partners  thirty  years  ago  when  my  expenditures  on 
illustrated  catalogues  were  in  question  and  my  confidence  in 
results  was  asked.  I  said:  'If  I  had  but  $10,000  to  go  into 
business  with,  I'd  ijut  $5,000  into  merchandise  and  $5,000 
into  a  catalogue  to  sell  it';  and  that  'went'  as  it  goes  to- 
day, only  my  experience  now  proves  I  'm  right — then,  I  only 
guessed  that  I  was."     See  also  Section  141. 

48.  Portfolios. — The  New  Standard  Dictionary  defines 
the  word  ' ' portfolio "  as :  "A  portable  case  of  two  or  more 
leaves,  for  holding  drawings,  engravings,  etc."  From  an 
advertising  standpoint  the  "etc."  at  the  end  of  the  defini- 
tion is  about  all  that  interests  us.  In  the  advertising  and 
selling  world  the  word  "portfolio"  has  come  to  mean  both 
bound  and  loose-leaf  super-books  or  super-booklets.  They 
are  virtually,  then,  enlarged  books  or  booklets,  and  are  usu- 
ally for  limited  distribution. 

Some  portfolios  are  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  series 
of  typewritten  (or  multigraphed  or  mimeographed)  sheets 
fitted  into  a  handy  and  convenient  binder.  For  example, 
in  the  technical  field  where  strong  reason-why  arguments 
must  be  advanced,  sometimes  an  enlarged  selling  argument 
is  typewritten  on  sheets  of  paper  and  these  sheets  put  into 
a  cloth,  leather,  or  paper  cover  making  what  might  be 
termed  a  "prospectus"  or  "portfolio."  The  value  of  the 
individual  order  usually  decides  the  quality  of  the  cover 
or  binder  to  be  used.  Now  and  then  these  sheets  are  placed 
in  a  regular  standardized  ring,  or  other  binder,  thus  mak- 
ing the  work  almost  a  book. 


CLASSIFICATIONS  65 

49.  Three  Kinds  of  Portfolios. — In  general,  there  are 
three  main  kinds  of  portfolios:  (1)  Portfolios  selling  an 
advertising  campaign  to  salesmen  and  dealers,  or  both;  (2) 
Portfolios  for  the  purpose  of  educating  salesmen  or  dealers, 
aside  from  the  advertising;  and  (3)  Portfolios  for  reach- 
ing special  but  very  limited  lists  of  prospective  customers. 

Fig.  17  illustrates  the  covers  (very  greatly  reduced) 
of  a  few  representative  portfolios. 

"Letters  on  Wood  Finishing"  is  a  portfolio  of  data  for 
the  use  of  architects,  issued  by  a  paint  and  varnish  manu- 
facturer. It  is  loose-leaf  in  form  and  each  portfolio  can 
be  made  up  as  required.  Note  this  is  not  a  catalogue  since 
it  does  not  feature  the  firm's  product  at  all;  it  is  strictly 
service  data  for  the  architect.  The  size  is  approximately 
81/2  X  11,  the  accepted  standard  for  architects. 

"Coffee  Advertising"  is  a  portfolio  of  reproductions  of 
advertisements  prepared  by  a  certain  advertising  agency 
for  one  of  its  clients  and  was  probably  intended  to  be  shown 
to  dealers.     The  size,  opened,  is  11  x  16  inches. 

"A  Bigger  Business  on  McGraw  Tires"  is  a  portfolio 
issued  for  the  purpose  of  selling  dealers  on  a  McGraw 
advertising  campaign.  It  reproduces  in  full  size  certain  ad- 
vertisements and  is  typical  of  many  such  portfolios.  Some 
of  them  tip  in  actual  samples  of  certain  pieces,  proofs,  and 
so  on;  others  reproduce  them  by  engravings  (see  Chapter 
XIV).    In  the  original  the  McGraw  portfolio  was  11  x  14. 

"The  Spring  Advertising  Drive"  makes  use  of  size  to 
create  an  impression  upon  dealers.  It  is  17  x  22  inches  in 
size  and,  in  addition  to  showing  reproductions  of  advertise- 
ments this  clothing  manufacturer  will  run,  gives  the  com- 
plete publication  advertising  schedule  of  dates  of  appear- 
ance and  publications  used.  The  color  pages  to  be  used 
are  reproduced  in  full  color  and  many  other  features  of  the 
advertising  campaign  are  illustrated. 

The  Apperson  automobile  is  sold  largely  through  port- 
folios. One  of  these  is  bound  in  leather  and  costs  about 
$10;  it  is  used  in  dealers'  show  rooms  for  a  real  display 
to  prospects;  still  another,  bound  in  leather  and  carried  by 


66  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

the  manufacturer's  own  salesmen,  is  made  up  of  photo- 
graphs mounted  upon  tasteful  backgrounds.  This  cost  $8, 
reports  an  article  in  Advertising  &  Selling,  December  13, 
1920.     See  also  Section  461. 

50.  Functions  of  Portfolios. — Taking  up  the  functions 
of  the  three  different  kinds  of  portfolios  in  the  order  men- 
tioned in  Section  49,  the  portfolio  to  sell  the  advertising 
campaign  to  sarlesmen  and  dealers  usually  has  little  other 
selling  value  than  that.  The  General  Electric  Company  in 
1920,  according  to  Printers'  Ink,  March  18,  1920,  desired  to 
put  on  a  100-day  campaign  from  April  1 2th  to  August  7th 
to  sell  electric  fans.  The  function  of  this  portfolio  was  to 
coordinate  the  efforts  of  dealers  with  the  company 's  public- 
ity announcements.  It  was  llY-z  ^  19  inches  in  size  and  in 
mechanical  make-up  the  portfolio  was  unusual  as  the  pages 
were  printed  in  sheet  form  like  posters  and  stapled  to- 
gether at  the  top  (similar  to  "Coffee  Advertising"  shown 
on  Fig.  17).  The  top  sheet  gave  the  key  to  the  arrange- 
ment which  was  in  stepped  formation,  top  sheet  shortest 
and  so  on,  and  the  seven  colors  of  the  rainbow  designated 
the  seven  features  of  the  campaign.     These  features  were : 

1.  Publications. — The  letters  and  folders  sent  to  the  dealer 
for  distribution  through  the  mail  and  over  the  counter  to  his 
customers. 

2.  Window  Display. — The  dealer  is  told  "Your  show  window 
is  the  front  page  of  your  business." 

3.  Exterior. — Refers  to  the  signs  furnished  for  use  on  the 
dealer's  delivery  ear  or  truck;  street-car  cards;  slides  in  motion- 
picture  houses;  and  personal  demonstrations  in  homes  and  of- 
fices. 

4.  Electrical  Store. — The  dealer  is  urged  to  arrange  "A  well- 
equipped  fan  department  in  his  store  with  comfortable  chairs, 
whirling  fans,  and  an  abundance  of  fan  literature." 

5.  Newspaper  Advertising. — Refers  to  local  newspaper  ad- 
vertising for  the  dealer. 

6.  The  national  magazine  advertising  of  the  General  Electric 
Company. 

7.  Newspaper  advertising  by  the  company's  distributors. 


■Jiv:  S/>r/„s  y(dvor(iH«ir,  t>rivK 


fMi^^^"^^'-^  *"'""■'  *'""' '""""'° 


4  wis 


Fip.  17. — Portfdlids  luiulit  bo  termed  "broadside"  books.  Orig- 
inally tbe  ones  illustrated  above  were  intended  for  groeers, 
clotiiiers.  arehiteets   and   garages.     See   text    for   details. 


].'j„.  IS. — The  liullclin  in  diroct  advcii isinfr  has  not  Itoon  ovcr- 
worla'd  as  yet.  and  ])ii'scnts  splendid  jio-^ilMlitios.  Iluilctins  aro 
inexpiMisive  and  admit  of  tlo>('  jicrstinali/alidii. 


CLASSIFICATIONS  67 

Where  the  portfolio  is  only  to  sell  a  limited  number  of 
salesmen,  it  is  frequently  made  up  by  hand  and  mounted 
after  the  style  of  an  album  of  camera  pictures. 

The  function  of  the  portfolio  for  the  purpose  of  educating 
salesmen  or  dealers  is  very  important  and,  if  fully  de- 
scribed, would  cover  almost  a  book  in  itself. 

Ray  Giles,  in  Printers'  Ink,  May  16,  1918,  covered  this 
ground  in  some  detail,  saying,  in  part:  "The  contents  of 
any  salesman's  manual  or  portfolio  fall  under  two  general 
heads:  These  are:  Instruction  Matter  and  Exhibition 
Matter."  He  found  fr6m  an  analysis  of  many  sales  that 
the  five  reasons  why  the  prospect  refuses  to  buy  are :  "  (1) 
Price.  (2)  Profit.  (3)  Performance — ('Your  stuff  isn't 
in  it  with  Roe's').  (4)  Personal — ('I  buy  from  Baker  be- 
cause he  is  a  member  of  my  lodge').  (5)  Punctuality — 
regarding  deliveries." 

If  your  instructions  answer  these  five  "P's"  you  have  ed- 
ucated salesman  or  dealer  and  the  portfolio  will  be  a  success. 

Under  the  exhibition  matter,  which  compares  with  what 
has  been  previously  described  ir.  this  section  and  Section  49, 
Mr.  Giles  puts:  "(1)  Proofs  of  advertisements.  (2)  Cir- 
culation data.  (3)  Window  trims.  (4)  Dealer  helps. 
(5)  Testimonials.  (6)  Photographs  of  merchandise,  assum- 
ing, of  course,  that  the  merchandise  itself  can  not  be  carried 
conveniently.  (7)  Photographs  of  plant  and  processes  of 
manufacture.  (8)  Photographs  of  successful  installations. 
(9)  General  'trade'  information;  this  may  include  news- 
paper or  trade  paper  items  or  articles  showing  the  possi- 
bilities in  a  given  field  which  will  stir  up  the  salesman  or 
the  dealer  to  whom  he  will  show  them." 

The  function  of  a  portfolio  designed  on  this  basis  is  to 
answer  every  objection  that  the  dealer  can  possibly  offer, 
and  from  the  salesman's  standpoint  "Knowledge  is  power." 

Portfolios  for  reaching  prospects  direct  are  identical  in 
function  with  the  preceding  except  that  window  trims  and 
dealer  helps  are  omitted ;  even  the  advertising  data  may  be 
sufficient  to  sell  him. 

Summed  up,  the  function  of  all  portfolios  is  education. 


68  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

51.  Sizes  of  Portfolios. — Mr,  Giles  in  the  article  pre- 
viously referred  to  urges  the  8i/^  x  11  size,  but  where  port- 
folios are  largely  for  the  purpose  of  impressing  the  dealer 
or  salesman  it  is  usual  to  limit  them  only  by  the  size  of  the 
sheet  of  paper  upon  which  they  are  printed  (see  Appen- 
dix C). 

52.  Results  from  Use  of  Portfolios. — As  these  are  like 
books,  booklets,  and  the  non-mail-order  catalogue  in  many 
features,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  trace  definite  results  to 
them,  though  their  users  are  enthusiastic  about  their  value. 

53.  Bulletins. — Two  or  more  pages  of  a  size  too  large 
for  envelope  inclosure  use,  where  not  presented  in  hound 
form  or  upon  cardboard,  comprise  what  the  advertis- 
ing world  knows  as  a  bulletin.  Usually  it  contains  four 
pages. 

One  large  adding  machine  company,  is  a  notable  modern 
exponent  of  this  form  of  advertising. 

While  not  their  only  method  of  advertising,  one  of  the 
features  of  the  campaign  of  the  Wayne  Oil  Tank  &  Pump 
Company,  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana,  as  described  by  Roland 
Cole  in  the  issue  of  Printers'  Ink  for  November  4,  1920,  was 
their  system  of  bulletins.  One  bulletin,  for  instance,  tells 
how  to  plan  drive-in  filling  stations.  Another  covers  the 
plans  for  the  stations.  A  third  illustrates  a  number  of 
stations  with  ideas  for  new  ones.  Mr.  Cole  makes  this  sig- 
nificant statement:  "The  whole  scheme  rests  on  the  ef- 
fectiveness of  the  bulletins." 

A  bulletin,  therefore,  seems  to  be  a  cross  between  a 
catalogue  and  a,  booklet.  It  is  definite  and  exact  as  to  data 
but  deals  with  specific  points  and  does  not,  usually,  cover 
the  whole  line  like  a  catalogue.  Nor  is  it  as  general  as  a 
booklet.     See  also  Section  461. 

54.  Bulletins  Are  Educational  in  Nature. — The  bulletin 
is  essentially  a  means  of  issuing  educational  literature. 

Fig.  18  illustrates  two  of  the  Burroughs  bulletins  and 
two  of  the  Vacuum  Oil  Company  bulletins.  The  Bur- 
roughs bulletins  contain  four  pages  only,  while  one  of  the 
Vacuum  Oil  Company  bulletins  contains  eight  pages,  the 


CLASSIFICATIONS  G9 

other  one  isixteen  pages,  and  both  are  stapled  (see  Section 
267).  But  the  Vacuum  Oil  bulletins  have  no  covers;  such 
construction  violates  the  principles  of  book-making  for  the 
reading  matter  starts  on  the  second  page  so  that  they  are,  to 
all  intents  and  purposes,  bulletins. 

The  Burroughs  Company  has  a  unique  policy  in  regard 
to  its  bulletins.     See  Section  403  for  details, 

"Orange  Aid,"  for  example,  is  the  story  of  how  a  Cali- 
fornia firm  successfully  used  an  adding  machine.  If  an 
inquiry  from  California  has  to  be  answered  the  Burroughs 
Company  sends  the  inquirer  a  piece  of  advertising  that 
represents  what  a  "neighbor"  says. 

"The  House  the  Bunns  Built"  is  a  story  of  what  an  add- 
ing machine  did  for  a  firm  of  wholesale  grocers  in  Illinois. 
This  bulletin  works  two  ways;  it  can  be  used,  geographi- 
cally, in  Illinois  and  also  among  the  grocery  trade. 

Long-Bell  Lumber  Company  issues  a  series  of  plan 
bulletins,  punched  to  fit  ring  binders,  as  shown  on 
Fig.  18. 

The  National  Metal  Moulding  Company  issues  its  cata- 
logue in  bulletin  form,  publishing  eleven  bulletins  ranging 
in  size  from  one  to  one  hundred  pages,  each  separate  bulle- 
tin inserted  loose-leaf  in  a  filing  folder  suitable  for  filing  in 
an  81/2  X  11  filing  case.  On  the  right  end  of  the  top  mar- 
gin of  each  file  folder  is  printed  the  company's  name  and  on 
the  left  end  the  name  of  the  special  bulletin  it  contains: 
"Locknuts  and  Bushings,"  "Non-Metallic  Flexible  Con- 
duit," "Rigid  Steel  Conduit,"  and  so  on  (see  Fig.  18). 
.  In  commenting  on  this  unusual  idea,  Printers'  Ink,  March 
29,  1917,  said :  "It  would  seem  that  many  other  manufac- 
turers might  borrow  the  idea  to  their  own  advantage  and 
to  the  convenience  of  their  customers."  It  lacks  dignity 
and  lacks  impressiveness,  which  may  probably  account  for 
the  failure  of  the  idea  to  become  over  popular,  though  it  is 
very  sound  otherwise. 

55.  Sizes  of  Bulletins. — All  of  the  bulletins  which  have 
been  described  were  8I/2  x  11  in  size,  though  they  could  be 
almost  any  size;  yet  if  small  enough  to  go  in  the  ordinary 


70  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

envelopes  they  would  come  under  the  heading,  of  envelope 
inclosures. 

56.  House  Organs. — House  organs,  also  called  house 
magazines,  corporation  magazines,  plant  publications,  and 
many  other  similar  names,  have  been  treated  exhaustively 
by  the  author  of  this  w^ork  in  "Effective  House  Organs,"  a 
361-page  work,  issued  by  the  publishers  of  this  volume. 
This  is  mentioned  to  show  by  comparison  the  neces- 
sarily brief  reference  which  can  be  given  to  the  subject 
here. 

In  that  book  the  author  defines  the  house  organ  as  ''Any 
periodical  publication  issued  hy  a  person,  firm,  organiza- 
tion or  corporation  for  distribution  among  any  particular 
class  of  people,  either  for  promoting  goodwill,  increas- 
ing sales,  inducing  hetter  efforts,  or  developing  greater  re- 
turns on  any  form  of  investment." 

57.  There  Are  Four  General  Kinds  of  House  Organs. 
— The  four  general  classifications  are:  (1)  House  organs 
for  salesmen  or  agents,  also  called  "sales  bulletins";  (2) 
House  organs  for  dealers,  also  called  "trade"  organs;  (3) 
House  organs  for  users  or  prospects;  and  (4)  House  organs 
for  employees,  also  called  "employees'  papers,"  "internal 
house  organs,"  "plant  publications,"  and  so  on.  These 
four  classes  are  illustrated  by  Fig.  19. 

"The  Sunstrand  Keyboard,"  9x12  inches,  16  pages,  is 
published  by  an  adding  machine  company  in  the  interests 
of  its  salesmen  and  service  organization. 

"Tick  Talk"  represents  a  house  organ  for  retail  dealers. 
Published  by  Westclox,  it  is  SVs  x  6%  inches  in  size. 
It  contains  sixteen  pages  and  cover.  "The  Red  Crown"  is 
a  good  example  of  a  house  organ  for  wholesale  dealers,  being 
published  by  Acme  Packing  Company  of  Chicago.  Size, 
5%  I  8"%  inches,  sixteen  pages. 

"The  Morning  Mail"  is  a  splendid  example  of  a  house 
organ  for  consumers,  risers  or  prospects.  It  is  published  by 
the  Direct  Advertising  Corporation  of  Indianapolis.  Size, 
81/^  X 11,  16  pages  and  cover. 

"The  Kodak  Magazine"  is  the  house  organ  for  the  em- 


-■^^c. 


TickTalK 

ofWestclax: 


sfc.'    THE         ,,, 


kevbchrdI 


I' I--.  I'.i.— lilt'  four  cln-sc-.  (if  linu-c  <«r<:aiis  arc  rcprcM'iUr.l  l,v 
llicsc  live  imlilicatioii-^.  -Til,.  i;,.,|  Crouii"  -(>•■>  t.i  v\  li,.l,-.al,.rs 
and  •■Tick  Talk"  to  retailers.  l;,.il,  inaiza/iiics  arc  in  the  same 
class. 


CLASSIFICATIONS  71 

playees  of  the  Eastman  Kodak  Company.     Size,  6%  x  10, 
48  pages  and  cover. 

58.  Functions  of  House  Organs. — The  functions  of  all 
house  organs  are  to  build  loyalty,  establish  esprit  de  corps, 
and  maintain  morale.  A  few  of  the  house  organs  to  users 
or  prospects,  and  fewer  of  those  to  dealers,  actually  try  to 
sell  goods,  though,  admittedly,  this  is  not  the  main  func- 
tion of  the  house-organ  form  of  advertising.  All  of  them 
touch  upon  education  in  a  more  or  less  general  way,  and 
the  purpose  of  the  salesmen's  bulletins  is  largely  to  estab- 
lish friendly  rivalry.  Sometimes  this  same  function  is  ac- 
complished in  the  house  organ  for  employees,  factory,  or 
office  by  addition  of  contests  for  promptness,  or  accuracy, 
or  other  desirable  features.  The  wise  editor  looks  upon 
all  house  organs  as  a  means  of  selling  something  indirectly ; 
that  is,  selling  the  house  as  a  place  to  work,  in  the  em- 
ployees' papers;  selling  the  sales  force  to  itself  and  its 
product  over  to  them  again,  in  the  sales'  bulletins;  selling 
the  prospect  the  product,  in  the  user  or  consumer  publica- 
tions; and  selling  the  dealer  both  on  the  product  and  being 
a  better  dealer,  in  the  dealers'  house  organs. 

59.  Sizes  of  House  Organs. — The  sizes  of  house  organs 
are  governed  by  two  things;  first,  consideration  of  those  who 
are  to  read  them  and  where  they  are  to  be  read;  and,  sec- 
ondly, in  accordance  with  the  standard  booklet  sizes  as 
shown  in  Appendix  A.  For  if  the  house  organ  is  to  be  car- 
ried by  a  salesman  or  other  person  and  read  in  spare  mo- 
ments it  must  be  pocket  size. 

60.  Continuity  Strong  Point  of  House  Organs. — The 
strength — and  if  stopped  the  weakness — of  the  house  organ 
is  that  it  more  nearly  approaches  other  forms  of  advertis- 
ing considered  from  the  standpoint  of  continuity.  Seldom 
is  a  single  issue  of  any  house  organ  planned ;  usually  it  is 
a  "continuous  performance,"  or  surely  issued  for  a  year  or 
more  at  least,  and  in  this  particular  it  is  more  valuable  than 
are  other  forms  of  direct  advertising  which  all  too  fre- 
quently are  bought  as  individual  items  without  the  idea  of 
continuity  being  maintained. 


72  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

6i.  Results  from  House  Organs. — Where  the  house 
organ  is  properly  planned  and  edited  the  results  have  been 
highly  gratifying  in  every  field  mentioned  in  Section  57. 
For  detailed  results  you  are  referred  to  ''Effective  House 
Organs. ' '  This  physical  form  should  be  used  when  a  long 
campaign  of  education  is  needed  or  when  there  are  either 
many  sales  ideas  to  put  over  or,  strange  to  say,  when  your 
product  has  practically  no  selling  point.  In  the  latter  case 
you  sell  your  house  instead  of  your  product  and  so  get  out 
of  the  class  of  competition. 

Questions  fob  Class  Work  or  for  Review  Purposes 

1.  Why  is  it  difficult  to  define  exactly  various  advertising  terms? 

2.  Describe  in  your  own  words  the  two  general  forms  of  all 
direct  advertising. 

3.  What  is  a  letter?  What  kinds  of  letters  are  there?  Why  is 
this  the  basic  form  of  all  direct  advertising? 

4.  Give  an  example  of  a  form  of  direct  advertising  that  is  prac- 
tically standardized. 

5.  Describe  the  interrelation  of  letters  and  letterheads. 

6.  How  may  the  physical  aspects  of  a  letter  be  changed? 

7.  For  what  use,  taken  from  angle  of  your  own  experience, 
would  you  use  a  booklet  in  your  business?     Why? 

8.  Name  as  many  different  kind  of  books  and  booklets  as  you 
can  think  of.  Do  not  restrict  your  names  to  those  mentioned  in 
the  text;  there  are  manj'  more. 

9.  Why  would  the  miniature  booklet  appeal  to  j'ou  as  a  form 
"more  intimate"  than  the  regular  full-sized  edition? 

10.  Differentiate  the  catalogue  from  all  other  forms  of  direct 
advertising. 

11.  Lay  out  a  portfolio  for  selling  to  a  set  of  salesmen  some 
product  with  which  you  are  familiar. 

12.  Would  you  have  this  reproduced  in  sufficient  quantities  to 
send  to  the  prospects?     If  not,  why? 

13.  Can  you  think  of  any  business  which  might  use  to  advantage 
the  bulletin,  as  described  in  the  text? 

14.  Define  a  house  organ  and  name  the  four  main  classifications. 

15.  Wherein  does  the  house  organ  have  an  advantage  over  other 
forms  of  direct  advertising,  as  a  rule?  Should  this  be  so,  do  you 
think? 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  CLASSIFICATIONS  OF  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

(Continued) 

The  earth  was  made  so  various,  that  the  mind 

Of  desultory  man,  studious  of  change, 

And  pleased  with  novelty,  might  be  indulged. 

— COWPER. 

62.  In  Section  24  we  divided  all  of  the  physical  forms  of 
direct  advertising  into  two  general  forms  or  classifications. 
Chapter  III,  first  half,  Sections  22  to  61  inclusive,  took  up 
all  those  physical  forms  known  as  Conventional,  or  Stand- 
ardized. In  the  second  half  of  the  chapter  which  we  are 
now  reading  we  shall  take  up  the  remainder  of  the  physical 
forms  which  were  denominated  as  Auto-contained,  or  Un- 
conventional. 

63.  Mailing  Cards  and  Circulars. — By  the  term  mailing 
card,  and  circular,  we  have  reference  to  any  comparatively 
small-sized  piece  of  cardboard  or  paper,  often  too  large 
for  an  envelope  inclosure  and  yet  not  calling  for  a  diffi- 
cult folding  operation  like  the  folder  defined  in  Section 
85. 

•  This  definition  leaves  much  to  be  desired,  for  the  larger 
mailing  circulars  are  termed  broadsides;  still,  it  will  serve 
to  emphasize  the  slightly  different  physical  aspects  of  vari- 
ous types  of  the  auto-contained  or  unconventional  pieces. 
These  are  really  two  distinct  types,  one  the  flat,  unfolded 
mailing  card ;  the  other  the  piece  of  cardboard  or  paper 
which  is  folded  once  or  twice,  but  leaving  most  of  the  inner 
pages  blank  and  without  attempt  to  build  a  folder  of  it  as 
referred  to  elsewhere. 

Circulars  are  frequently  distributed  by  hand,  in  which 
event  they  are  often  called  ''dodgers"  (see  Section  357). 

73 


Fig.  20a. — This  line  engraving  shows  the  simpler  forms  of  direct  ad- 
vertising. See  also  Fig.  20b.  A.  On  a  regular  government  postal  card. 
B.  Using  the  regular  government  double  postal  card.  C.  llie  adver- 
tiser makes  his  own  double  postal  card.  D.  Inside  folds  of  a  four-fold 
card.     See  text  for  further  details  . 


74 


CLASSIFICATIONS  75 

64.  Several  Kinds  of  Mailing  Cards  and  Circulars. — 
Fi^.  A  of  Fig.  20a  represents  the  very  simplest  form  of 
mailing  card.  It  is  actually  printed  in  this  ca.se  upon  a 
regular  government  postal  card,  in  itself  a  saving  of  the  cost 
of  the  cardboard  stock.  Fig.  B  represents  the  two  leading 
sides  of  a  regular  double  or  reply  government  postal  card. 
Again  there  has  been  no  cost  for  stock ;  this  particular  card 
was  used  by  a  well-known  New  York  publishing  house.  One 
side  is  addressed  to  the  prospect  and  the  other  addressed  to 
the  publishing  house.  Fig.  C  represents  a  variation  of  this 
same  double-card  idea,  but  in  this  case  the  publisher  of  the 
card  has  used  his  own  stock  and  the  mailing  and  reply  sides 
(not  illustrated)  require  a  postage  stamp  for  mailing  in 
each  case.  The  size  of  this  double-reply  card,  folded  to 
mailing  size,  is  6x4  inches.  Note. that  in  case  of  Fig.  B 
the  mailer  sends  along  a  prepaid  reply  card,  while  in  the 
case  of  Fig.  C  the  person  who  replies  will  have  to  furnish 
the  stamp. 

Leaving  the  regular  postal  card  size,  or  thereabouts,  the 
simplest  form  of  mailing  card  is  represented  on  Fig.  20  B 
the  reverse  side  of  which  (not  illustrated)  is  blank  except 
for  the  mailing  address.  This  card  size,  5  x  8,  is  apparently 
a  reprint  of  the  Cross  company's  advertisement  in  some 
trade  publication. 

Fig.  D  represents  what  is  known  as  a  four-fold  mailing 
card,  showing  the  inside  of  it  opened  up  with  the  arrow 
pointing  to  the  "Free  Examination  Order  Card."  It  is 
interesting  to  note  that  the  four  folds  not  illustrated, 
printed  on  the  back  of  the  four  folds  shown,  in  order  are : 
(1)  Address  card  to  the  writer,  in  the  upper  left-hand 
corner  of  which  there  appears  in  this  formation : 

THE  MOST 
VITAL  QUESTIONS 
YOU  CAN  ASK 

Now  answered  for  yon  by 
America's  Business  Giants. 


Fig.  25b. — The  above  line  engraving  illustrates  announcement 
cr  general  j)ublifity  types  of  direct  advertising.  E.  Printed  on 
cardboard;  was  mailed  without  cover.  F.  The  formal  style; 
original  is  engraved.  G.  Printed  on  paper;  it  had  a  second  sheet 
and  was  mailed  folded.  H.  Unusual  in  appeal  and  distribution 
(see  text  for  details). 


76 


CLASSIFICATIONS  77 

(2)  A  very  small  half-tone  reproduction  of  the  front  cover 
and  binding  edge  of  the  book  advertised  with  this  in  a  rule 
box  in  the  corner  of  the  fold: 

445  Pages,  6x9,  Illustrated 

Attractively  bound  in  blue  cloth 

Price  $3.00  net 

Postpaid 

See  Free  Examination  Offer. 

(3)  A  list  of  the  fifty  business  leaders  whose  biographies 
are  included  in  the  book  advertised,  with  a  few  lines  of  sell- 
ing talk.  (4)  The  return  address  of  the  publishing  house 
with  space  for  stamp.  Note  that  this  fold  is  so  arranged 
that  it  is  directly  opposite  "Free  Examination  Order 
Card"  so  that  when  the  prospect  tears  it  off  and  mails  it 
the  card  is  already  addressed.  Each  fold  of  this  card 
measures  514  x  31/2- 

The  New  York  Globe  Card  is  typical  of  what  might  be 
termed  the  Announcement  mailing  card,  the  original  of 
which  was  engraved  (see  Section  334).  The  original 
measured  5^2  x  4^/4.  This  mailing  card,  unlike  any  of  those 
on  Fig.  20a  required  a  special  envelope  to  mail  it  and  is 
therefore  not  really  auto-contained. 

The  Jaquish  is  another  type  of  the  announcement  mail- 
ing circular.  In  this  case  the  circular  is  on  a  paper 
stock,  folded  once  to  about  half  standard  letter  size;  i.e., 
"note"  size.  There  is  little  of  selling  value  in  this 
announcement,  which  requires  an  envelope  for  mailing  pur- 
poses as  with  the  Globe  announcement. 

Fig.  20b  illustrates  other  styles  of  mailing  cards  and 
mailing  circulars.  The  card,  "Miss  Hazel  Irene  Collins," 
in  the  original  4%  x  31/4  inches,  was  handed  out  to  every 
dining-room  guest  at  the  Seelbach  Hotel  for  some  little 
time  prior  to  Miss  Collins'  return,  in  an  endeavor  to  build 
up  patronage.  This  is  unusual,  for  it  appeals  to  a  promis- 
ing clientele;  namely,  hotel  patrons.  Very  few  hotels  do 
aught  to  increase  their  dining-room  patronage  and,  in  these 
prohibition  days  they  are  finding  it  all  the  more  necessary. 


78 


EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


Fig.  21 — This  line  engraving  illustrates  the  simpler  forms  of 
folders.  A.  Outside  fold  of  which  B  is  the  inside.  C.  How  trade- 
paper  advertisements  are  reproduced  in  series  as  folders.  D.  A 
simple  yet  ingenious  method  of  folding.     See  text  for  details. 

Fig.  21  A  represents  the  outside  fold,  as  received,  size 
SYiQ  X  4%  of  a  three-fold  mailing  circular,  auto-contained. 
Fig.  21  B  represents  the  inside  of  it  after  the  three  folds 
have  been  opened  up.  Two  folds  of  this  piece  are  blank.  It 
is  extremely  simple,  containing  only  a  half  dozen  lines  of 
type  in  addition  to  the  reproduction  of  an  advertisement 
culled  from  a  series  of  advertising  pages;  it  is  sent  out  by 


CLASSIFICATIONS  79 

a  magazine  in  an  endeavor  to  sell  its  advertising  pages  to 
others. 

The  calendar-card,  Fig.  87,  is  a  regular  sensitized  postal 
card  upon  which  has  been  placed  a  picture  of  a  dish  of 
almonds;  the  artist  has  touched  into  the  background  and 
foreground  advertising  messages,  a  monthly  calendar,  and 
so  on.  This  would  probably  be  mailed  to  dealers  and  large 
distributors  with  a  written  message  on  the  face-side. 

The  two  two-fold  mailing  circulars,  printed  on  heavy 
paper  and  mailed  under  their  own  covers  with  no  other 
printing  thereon  are  reproductions  of  trade-paper  adver- 
tisements, reprinted  in  this  form  and  mailed  to  the  maga- 
zine's prospective  list.  The  folded  piece,  for  mailing,  is 
51/8  X  SVs.     (See  Fig.  21  D). 

"The  Freight  Traffic  Red  Book,"  Fig.  21  C,  is  a  simple- 
folded  piece  though  this  illustration  has  made  it  appear 
like  a  complicated  folder.  Tiie  face  of  the  original 
measures  6%  x  91/4.  Actually  it  is  a  sheet  of  paper  24% 
inches  wide  by  9i/4  inches  deep.  This  is  folded  exactly 
12V4  inches  from  the  left  edge — 12i/^  from  the  right  edge. 
This  leaves  the  top  fold  i/4  inch  shorter  than  the  under 
fold,  thus  suggesting  to  the  person  who  opens  it  that  there 
is  something  underneath.  Then  another,  3^4  inches  wide  in 
each  case,  is  made  at  the  left  and  at  the  right ;  i.e.,  a  fold 
3^4  inches  from  the  right  edge  and  from  the  left  edge,  fold- 
ing both  top  and  bottom  sheets.  This  leaves  the  slit  down 
the  center  of  the  zinc  etching  of  the  book  printed  in  red 
upon  the  front-folds,  which,  in  turn,  piques  curiosity  and 
takes  the  reader  inside.  This  was  accomplished  quite  easily 
by  using  an  extra  electrotype  which  was  cut  into  two  pieces. 
One  half  was  printed  on  one  end  of  the  long  sheet  and  the 
other  half  on  the  other  end.  This  piece  might  almost  as 
readily  be  classed  as  a  folder,  though  folders  are  almost 
invariably  auto-contained  while  this  "Red  Book"  folder 
requires  an  envelope  for  mailing  purposes. 

Almost  sufficiently  important  to  enjoy  a  classification 
of  their  own  are  Salesmen's  Advance  Cards.  Such  pieces 
of  direct  advertising  are  used  by  a  large  number  of  firms. 


80  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

but  as  yet  only  few  have  realized  the  full  direct-advertising 
value  of  these  cards.  In  one  instance  an  unselfish  firm  got 
out  a  series  of  sixteen  cards  advertising  other  important 
firms  in  their  city. 

A  firm  manufacturing  filing  equipment  gets  up  a  very 
lengthy  series  of  cards.  On  the  back  of  the  card  is  shown 
apparently  the  interior  of  a  theater  with  a  half-tone  illus- 
tration in  black  on  space  that  would  be  the  curtain  of  the 
movie.  One  of  these  insert  illustrations  shows  the  firm's 
assembly  room,  another  its  printing  department,  a  third  its 
automatic  presses,  a  fourth  a  steel  press,  a  fifth  a  rubbing 
room,  a  sixth  the  giant  shears,  a  seventh  the  metal  cabinets 
being  welded,  and  so  on.  On  the  front  of  the  card,  on  the 
left  third,  as  permitted  by  postal  rules,  is  a  space  for  the. 
name  of  the  salesman  who  is  en  route  to  see  the  party  ad- 
dressed, and  under  his  name  a  list  of  reminders  of  the 
firm's  products,  so  the  addressee  may  check  up  his  possible 
needs.  Also  on  this  side  there  is  a  notation,  such  as  this: 
"No.  4  of  Series  B— Look  for  Complete  Set."  The  adver- 
tising manager  of  the  firm,  W.  C.  Freeman,  writes  regard- 
ing this  plan:  "The  serial  idea  counters  this  impulse  to 
cast  aside  the  cards  without  giving  them  the  right  consid- 
eration, and  we  feel  that  the  scheme  is  worthy  of  greater 
development." 

Fig.  22  illustrates  several  advance  cards.  See  also  Sec- 
tion 92. 

All  too  often  one  standard  advance  card  is  used;  "the 
trade"  gets  used  to  this  and  becomes  oblivious  to  its  appeal. 
Variations  of  cards  are  secured  by  picturing  new  mod- 
els, new  terms,  occasionally  as  sample-carriers.  Those  par- 
ticularly interested  in  salesman's  advance  cards  are  re- 
ferred to  Printers'  Ink,  June  8,  1916,  page  61. 

65.  Functions  of  Mailing  Cards  and  Mailing  Circulars. 
— These  two  classes  might  well  be  termed  the  Ipulletin- 
board  type  of  direct  advertising,  though,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  top  cards  of  Fig.  20a,  sometimes  they  are  filled  with 
type  and  made  to  produce  selling  messages  and  actually 
bring  in  orders.     Generally  speaking,  the  functions  of  this 


I'i-.  -'1. — .lust  ii  fi'w  salesmen's  advance  cards  used  in  the  slioe 
industry.  In  eacli  case  wliere  tlie  entire  rev(>rse  siile  is  coveird 
by  ii  picture,  the  ohverse  side  has  l»een  used  to  announce  name  and 
dati'  of  arri\al  of  sah>sman. 


CLASSIFICATIONS  81 

type   of  direct   advertising   are  for   announcements   and 
bulletins  of  various  kinds. 

Another  function  of  the  mailing  card,  apparently  little 
appreciated  as  yet,  is  its  use  in  "teaser"  campaigns.  (Fig. 
51).  A  "teaser"  campaign  is  one  where  interest  is 
aroused  by  an  appeal  to  curiosity.  In  one  community  cam- 
paign, for  example,  the  main  slogan  was  ' '  Suppose  Nobody 
Cared?"  The  title  of  the  main  booklet  was  the  same. 
Four  days  before  the  booklet,  educational  in  nature,  was 
mailed,  the  list  of  names  received  a  postal  card  of  the  teaser 
variety  with  a  large  ' '  Suppose ' '  thereon ;  the  next  day  came 
a  second  with  "Suppose  Nobody,"  and,  finally,  a  third  on 
the  third  day  with  "Suppose  Nobody  Cared";  thus  selling 
the  booklet  ahead  of  its  arrival  (see  Sections  183  and  186). 

66.  Sizes  of  Mailing  Cards  and  Mailing  Circulars  Lim- 
ited Only  by  Mailing  Conditions. — As  has  been  indicated 
by  measurements  shown  in  Section  64,  mailing  cards  and 
mailing  circulars  are  limited  practically  only  by  mailing 
conditions.  Those  printed  upon  cardboard,  especially  if  it 
is  very  heavy  and  therefore  likely  to  break  when  bent, 
should  not  exceed  7x9  inches  or  thereabouts,  for  postmen 
in  cities  are  prone  to  fold  them  to  slip  them  more  easily 
into  mail-chutes  provided  in  the  average  office  door. 

67.  If  Used  in  Series,  Should  Be  Changed. — If  you  use 
mailing  cards  or  mailing  circulars  in  a  series  of  mailings  it 
is  well  to  change  color,  size,  or  make-up.  The  System  cards 
on  Fig.  21  D  have  different  colored  backgrounds  in  each  case. 

68.  Direct  Results  Not  Usually  Aimed  for  in  Use  of 
Mailing  Cards  and  Circulars. — As  a  rule  it  is  not  usual  to 
try  for  direct  returns  or  direct  results  in  the  use  of  mailing 
cards  and  circulars;  they  are  the  "billboard"  type  of  direct 
advertising,  if  we  may  so  term  them.  An  examination  of 
Figs.  20a  and  20b  will  show  how  these  forms  of  direct 
advertising  are  generally  used.  All  on  Fig.  20a,  except  the 
San  Francisco  Call  card  however,  illustrate  how  tliey  may 
be  used  for  direct  returns,  or  results.  In  selling  the  annual 
report  of  an  association  of  which  the  writer  is  a  member,  a 
most  careful  study  was  made  of  keyed  returns  as  all  selling 


82  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

was  done  by  mail.  It  was  found  that  more  actual  sales  per 
dollar  spent  could  be  secured  by  a  simple  two-fold  card, 
similar  to  top  card  of  Fig.  20a,  than  by  any  other  form. 
In  that  campaign  many  other  forms  of  direct  and  trade 
paper  advertising  were  used.  Aside  from  these  double- 
size,  or  double-double  size,  or  an  occasional  triple-size  card, 
you  will  find  that  the  mailing  card  and  circular  are  gen- 
erally used  for  announcement  purposes  and  not  for  direct 
returns.     See  also  Section  142. 

69.  Envelope  Inclosures. — Envelope  inelosures  are  fre- 
quently referred  to  by  advertisers  as  "  stuff ers,"  and  all 
too  often  they  are  literally  "stuffers"  and  not  miniature 
sales  messages.  This  classification  will  be  found  to  over- 
lap others,  especially  small  booklets  and  blotters,  and  is 
similar  in  many  waj's  to  package  inserts  treated  in  Section 
75,  but  this  overlapping,  the  writer  believes,  is  more  than 
likely  the  main  reason  for  the  desultory  way  in  which  a 
powerful  method  of  direct  advertising  is  used  and  abused. 
We  shall  define  an  envelope  inclosure  as  a  leaflet  of  two, 
though  usually  at  least  four  or  more  pages,  as  a  rule  with- 
out a  special  cover,  used  as  an  in^closure  with  regular  mail — 
either  letters,  invoices,  statements,  form  letter  mailings, 
house  organs,  catalogues  or  other  special  mailings  (see  Fig. 
66). 

70.  There  Are  Planned,  as  Well  as  "Hit-or-Miss" 
Inclosures. — The  bulk  of  the  inclosures  used  at  the  present 
time,  one  must  admit,  seem  aimed  more  at  "getting  your 
money's  worth  from  the  two-cent  stamp  you  use  to  mail 
first-class  letters"  than  to  accomplish  any  set  plan.  By 
that  we  mean  that  all  too  many  inclosures  are  designed 
merely  for  the  purpose  of  getting  the  full  legal  limit  as  to 
weight  of  a  letter  as  allowed  by  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment. By  far  the  larger  portion  of  first-class  mail,  it  has 
been  estimated,  does  not  attain  the  total  weight  allowed  for 
two  cents.  But  there  are  planned  inclosures  as  well  as  the 
"hit-or-miss"  variety,  and  the  future  will  see  more  of  them 
than  in  the  past. 

Fig.  23  illustrates  several  different  kinds  of  inclosures 


CLASSIFICATIONS 


83 


used  by  leading  firms,  and  Fig.  25  also  illustrates  some 
of  the  simpler  forms  and  shows  how  even  the  apparently 
simple  inclosures  may  have  a  definite  plan  behind  them. 
Details  of  these  illustrations  will  be  found  in  succeeding  sec- 
tions. 


s-'.cs-. 


f/oodrtdpemahamatnum'ttma—  Q 

R«tWoiii»Ml,l,n-,  itf  But./»r.ll,  irilYourpHrilegetoeudu 
food  to  whx  idouldo-t  ,00  be  Idling  10  pu.  >Joi,.  a  luigtitioii  u 
to  l>ow  to  prq>.r«  it.  And  onte  your  wift  huKrvoi  th".  temptM 
isk,  or  .J,  of^tke  <;o.ou  of  och«  m.nu  crario».  .h,cll  Dtl.  mS^ 


tiite  thi»  les£ct  hom«. 


Fig.  23. — Additional  envelope  inclosures  and  package  inserts  are  illus- 
trated here.  See  also  Figs.  24  to  28,  inclusive.  Details  of  these  illustra- 
tions will  be  found  in  the  text. 


84  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

71.  Inclosures  Can  Perform  Three  Main  Functions. — 
The  three  main  functions  of  inclosures  are:  (1)  Supple- 
menting some  other  form  of  advertising,  either  a  personal 
sales  message  or  a  printed  one  such  as  a  catalogue,  house 
organ,  sales  letterhead,  and  so  on;  (2)  Educational  work 
foreign  to  the  main  message  with  which  it  is  inclosed; 
(3)  Announcements  of  various  kinds,  such  as  changes  in 
telephone  numbers,  additilons  to  your  products,  and  so  on. 

Above  all,  the  main  function  of  the  inclosure  is  to  per- 
mit the  use  of  a  briefer  main  sales  message.  It  is  admitted 
by  all  that  the  briefer  a  sales  letter  is  the  greater  chance  it 
has  of  being  read,  and  while  some  few  letter-writers  claim 
that  the  inclosure  with  a  letter  diverts  the  recipient's  atten- 
tion from  the  letter  itself,  especially  where  a  direct  refer- 
ence is  made  in  the  letter,  say  to  a  certain  page,  or  in  some 
such  way  directly  to  the  inclosure,  the  majority  believe  it 
good  strategy  to  use  the  brief  letter  and  an  inclosure. 

On  this  same  angle  of  strateg;^^  it  is  admitted  by  house- 
organ  experts  that  the  publication  itself  is  a  splendid 
builder  of  goodwill  but  a  poor  producer  of  inquiries  unless 
you  use  a  display  advertisement  with  a  coupon  as  part  of  it ; 
even  then,  if  your  house  organ  is  treasured  or  filed,  the  re- 
cipient does  not  wish  to  destroy  its  pages.  By  using  an 
envelope  inclosure  with  a  "come-back"  as  a  part  of  it  direct 
inquiries  may  be  pulled  from  a  house-organ  mailing.  This 
inclosure  may  or  may  not  have  any  reference  to  what  is 
treated  in  the  house  organ  itself,  of  course. 

Fig.  23  A,  original  in  two  colors,  red  and  black  on  a  white 
card,  is  an  example  of  how  the  inclosure  may  be  used 
strategically  to  sell  the  buyer,  almost  unconsciously,  on 
paying  a  price  a  bit  higher  perhaps  than  he  first  had  in 
mind.  A  variation  of  this  is  a  similar  inclosure,  not  illus- 
tjated,  which  directly  attacks  the  problem  with  this,  under 
a  heading  "Oh  Yes!": 

It's  a  big  temptation  to  give  the  order  to  the  Lowest  Bidder. 
The  best  way  to  get  over  that  habit  is  to  keep  on  doing  it. 
Every  fellow  who  stays  in  business  long  enough  to  practice 
it,  cures  himself. 


CLASSIFICATIONS  85 

This  latter  inclosure  was  used  by  a  firm  of  printers  and 
sent  out  with  their  regular  mail  accompanied  by  letters  giv- 
ing quotations. 

Fig,  26  illustrates,  greatly  reduced,  a  series  of  three  in- 
closures  used,  somewhat  generally,  to  improve  postal  con- 
ditions in  the  United  States  early  in  1920.  Note  that  they 
are  in  a  series.  Any  of  these  might  be  inclosed  with  any 
form  of  message  and  so  they  fall  into  the  class  of  ''educa- 
tional" work  referred  to  in  an  earlier  paragraph. 

Fig.  23  D  is  an  unusual  inclosure.  The  inclosure  itself 
frankly  admits  it,  too.  * '  A  food  recipe  in  a  business  man 's 
mail — "  as  a  heading  is  descriptive  of  the  inclosure.  A 
California  packing  company  adopted  this  unusual  plan  of 
getting  a  wider  interest  in  its  goods,  by  the  use  of  inclosures 
with  its  mail  to  business  men. 

Fig.  23  B  illustrates  both  sides  of  a  two-page  inclosure  for 
a  large  tire  company.  A  similar  one  might  be  used  either 
to  supplement  a  regular  or  form-letter  or  similar  sales  mes- 
sage, or  be  inclosed  at  random  in  your  regular  mail. 

Fig.  23  C,  used  to  supplement  a  mailing  to  sell  the  stock 
of  the  company  referred  to,  was  not  only  unusual  but 
could  be  used  for  supplemental  publicity  as  an  announce- 
ment. 

Fig.  23  E  illustrates  how  a  book  publishing  house  in  mail- 
ing circulars  about  one  book  used  a  simple  inclosure  about 
some  other  book.  The  original  of  this  was  on  brown  paper, 
printed  both  sides;  the  unillustrated  side  merely  gave 
the  chapter-headings  of  the  book,  "Industrial  Housing," 
and  in  the  lower  right-hand  comer  in  each  case  you  will  find 
the  word  ' '  Over. ' ' 

The  front  fold  only  is  illustrated  in  Fig.  24,  a  rather 
unique  inclosure  issued  by  a  firm  of  direct-advertising  spe- 
cialists. The  original  measures  4i/2  inches  in  width  by  6 
inches  in  depth  and  had  therefore  to  be  folded  in  the  center 
to  be  inclosed  with  a  regular  letter,  though  when  mailed 
with  the  company's  house  organ  such  folding  became  un- 
necessary. 

Fig.  25  illustrates  several  more  inclosures,  some  of  them 


THE  ART  OF  EXPLAINING  THE 
EXPLANATION 

//  is  Jar  more  difficult  to  be  simple  than  to  be  complicated. — RusiUN 

The  greatest  learning  is  to,  be  seen  in  the  greatest  plainness. — Wilkins 

The  least  degree  of  ambiguity  which  leaves  the  mind  in  suspense  as  to 
the  meaning  ought  to  be  avoided  with  the  greatest  care. — Blair 

'Obscurity  in  writing  is  commonly  an  argument  oj  darkness  in  the 
mind. — Wilkins 

I  HAVE  in  my  library  a  book  written  to  explain 
small-boat  sailing  to  men  who  do  not  under- 
stand that  art,  from  which  I  cull  the  following 
terms: 

"Reeve  the  fall  right  handed." 
"Slack,  the  main  sheet." 
"Reef  rather  than  luff  continuously." 
"Establish  your  position  accurately  by  bear- 
ing." 

"Make  the  end  of  your  gantline  fast  to  the  ring." 
"Pull  on  your  topping  lifts  and  get  reef  cringle 
down  to  boom." 

"Make  fast  your  reef  earing  at  the  tack,  haul 
out  the  clew  earing  and  tie  up  the  reef  points." 


Fig.  24. — An  "editorial  form"  of  inclosure.  Only  the  first  page 
is  illustrated,  the  second  page  continues  the  story  without  break, 
and  the  third  page  completes  it  with  firm's  signature  at  the  end. 


86 


CLASSIFICATIONS  87 

unique  in  shape  and  size.  The  ''Have  Another  One"  is  a 
die-cut  imitation  of  a  pancake,  four  pages,  advertising  a 
pancake  flour. 

The  two  Collier's  inclosures  are  greatly  reduced  repro- 
ductions of  the  front  covers  of  that  publication.  These 
two  inclosures  were  used  by  the  publishers'  subscription 
agencies  in  two  ways,  one  with  a  special  mailing  on  Col- 
lier's alone,  and  the  other  as  a  piece  of  supplemental  pub- 
licity with  a  catalogue  and  folder  describing  a  long  list  of 
publications.  These  inclosures  in  both  cases  have  space  on 
the  last  fold  for  signing  a  name  "on  the  dotted  line"  and 
making  an  order  out  of  them. 

' '  Profits  in  Berkshires ' '  was  used  both  by  the  association 
publishing  the  inclosure  and  also  by  members  who  inclosed 
these  little  messages  with  their  regular  mail — a  method 
perhaps  entirely  foreign  to  the  breeding  of  Berkshires. 

"Look  at  the  Cylinder"  aims  to  sell  a  new  roller  to  the 
Remington  typewriter  user  into  whose  hands  it  falls.  Each 
was  sent  out  with  the  regular  mail,  in  the  "  hit-or-miss " 
distribution  plan.  It  was  also  mailed  with  the  firm's 
house  organ  as  well  as  to  a  list  of  users  of  old  machines. 

"Kelvinator  in  Place  of  Ice"  is  what  is  known  as  No.  10 
inclosure  and  fits  into  a  No.  10  envelope.  It  was  used  to 
supplement  a  sales  letter  answering  an  inquiry  as  to  this 
new  form  of  ice  box, 

"Success  &  Co."  might  almost  be  listed  as  a  novelty;  it 
is  an  imitation  pay-roll  envelope  containing  still  another 
inclosure ;  the  purpose  of  the  inner  inclosure  is  to  obtain  an 
inquiry  for  a  correspondence  course  Jn  efficiency. 

The  three-fold  inclosure  with  James  M.  Cox  on  one  side 
and  Warren  G.  Harding  on  the  other  is  what  is  known  as  a 
syndicated  direct-advertising  inclosure  (see  Section  195). 
The  three  inside  folds  not  shown  give  the  presidential  vote 
from  the  year  1824  to  1880  and  from  1884  to  1916.  The 
blank  on  the  third  fold  is  intended  for  the  insertion  of  your 
own  estimate. 

The  Swissalu  and  Lucas  Velvo-Tone  Finish  inclosures 
are  unusual  in  shape.     These  are  slipped  over  the  top  edge 


88  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

of  a  letter  replying  to  an  inquirj^,  and  may  either  Iiave 
reference  to  the  inquiry  itself  or  be  used  merely  to  pro- 
mote interest  in  something  foreign  to  the  inquiry. 

The  very  long  inclosure  (original  3%  inches  wide,  17% 
deep)  was  printed  on  one  side  only  and  when  mailed  was 
folded  in  the  middle.  Its  function  was  to  interest  the 
stores  receiving  it  on  the  selling  possibilities  of  a  line  of 
rugs.  It  was  accompanied  with  other  mail  matter.  Such 
a  piece  might  be  included  with  an  invoice,  for  example, 
thus  reemphasizing  what  the  salesman  had  told  the  cus- 
tomer when  he  bought  the  goods. 

An  example  of  the  pure  announcement  type  of  inclosure 
is  the  Rogers  &  Company 's  notification  of  its  change  of  tele- 
phone, printed  one  side  only,  shown  on  Fig.  25. 

72.  Two  Principal  Sizes  of  Inclosures. — ^While  naturally 
an  inclosure  can  be  of  almost  any  size,  as  you  have  noted 
in  the  sections  immediately  preceding  this,  yet  as  a  general 
rule  the  majority  of  the  inclosures  used  fall  into  two  prin- 
cipal classes :  the  No.  6%  inclosure,  designed  to  be  used  in 
an  envelope  of  that  size,  and  the  No.  10  inclosure  for  an  en- 
velope of  that  size.  See  Appendix  B  for  specifications  of 
these  envelopes.  Many  of  those  used  in  the  6%  are  made 
smaller  so  as  to  permit  their  use  in  an  envelope  already 
near  the  limit  when  the  letter  itself  or  main  mailing  piece  is 
inclosed.  Not  many  inclosures  are  of  unusual  size  or 
shape;  even  those  on  Fig.  25  required  considerable  search 
among  a  large  number  of  inclosures.  In  Section  262,  which 
deals  with  the  mechanical  angles  of  direct-advertising 
pieces,  you  will  find  other  examples  of  unusual  folds. 

73.  Where  Used  Regularly  Inclosures  Should  Be 
Changed  Often. — If  you  are  using  envelope  inclosures  as 
general  announcements  with  your  regular  mail  and  you 
write  the  same  addressee  very  frequently  it  is  necessary  to 
change  the  style  of  inclosure  quite  often  or  you  waste  all 
your  efforts.  For  example,  you  might  have,  say  300 
customers,  and  write  these  over  and  over  again  during  the 
course  of  a  business  month.  If  you  start  to  use  an  inclosure 
on  January  1st  every  one  of  your  regular  correspondents  has 


Fio-.  2o. — Even  the  teleiirapli  company  uses  envelope  inclosures. 
Note  how  the  Western  Union,  hy  usin.ir  tlie  inclosures  shown  above, 
heljis  to  sell  its  service  to  those  who  <iet  messages.  See  text  for 
details. 


Fig.  '2(i. — The  person  who  has  just  bought  your  product  is  the 
one  to  whom  you  should  address  your  advertisements,  especially 
if  you  have  other  forms  of  products  to  sell.  This  illustration 
shows  how  several  national  firms  use  these  little  dynamos  in  direct 
advertising. 


Stir  Up  Your  Local 
Business  Organizations 


(S> 


I 


Gfet  your  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Rotary  Club 
and  other  local  business  orgsuiizations  interested 
and  secure  their  co-operation.  Have  them  get.  all 
members  to  use  on  their  outgoing  letters  stickers 
^bringing  all  possible  pressure  to  bear  on 
::ayide  prompt  and  efficient 


T'ig.  27. — No  name  appears  on  these  inclosures.  They  were  part  of  a  concen- 
trated campaign  to  better  the  mail  service  of  the  United  States  Tost  Office  De- 
partment. 

89 


90  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

seen  that  same  inelosure  several  times,  with  a  result  that  he 
almost  automatically  fires  it  into  the  waste-basket  the  mo- 
ment your  letter  is  opened.  On  the  other  hand,  if  you 
deal  with  concerns  to  whom  you  write  only  very  infre- 
quently, you  might  advantageously  use  the  same  inelosure 
for  a  long  time. 

74.  Inelosure  Not  Used  for  Direct  Returns,  as  a  Rule. 
— The  functions  for  which  inclosures  are  used,  as  described 
in  Section  71,  preclude  much  in  the  way  of  direct  results, 
except  where  inclosed  with  catalogues  (see  Fig.  66).  Where 
used  as  package  inserts  (see  Section  75),  of  course  direct 
results  are  easily  traced.     See  also  Section  143. 

The  manager  of  a  mail-order  sales  department  of  a  prom- 
inent New  York  watch  company  recently  testified  that  by 
mailing,  with  a  special  proposition  offered  with  a  four-page 
sales  letterhead,  a  separate  inelosure  on  an  entirely  differ- 
ent proposition,  he  got  back  enough  returns  from  this  sep- 
arate inelosure  to  pay  for  the  cost  of  the  mailing,  thus  mak- 
ing that  much  ''velvet." 

This  leads  up  to  the  question  whether  there  should  be 
more  than  one  inelosure  in  a  letter  or  in  a  house  organ. 
No  general  rule  can  be  laid  down,  of  course,  but  a  careful 
analysis  of  many  campaigns  would  lead  one  to  believe 
that  the  preceding  instance  was  an  exception  to  the  general 
rule.  Apropos,  Flint  McNaughton  in  "Intensive  Selling" 
says:  "A  number  of  inclosures  in  one  envelope  confuses 
the  reader.  He  sees  at  once  that  the  envelope  contains  a 
promiscuous  advertisement  and  a  large  percentage  of  these 
inclosures  go  directly  into  the  discard.  ,  .  .  This  'stuffing' 
of  envelopes  has  done  much  to  cast  the  real  selling  value  of 
inclosures  in  bad  repute." 

Still  it  must  be  admitted  that  "William  Wrigley,  Jr., 
started  his  gum-selling  business  with  a  mailing  of  as  many 
different  inclosures  offering  premiums  as  he  could  get  into  a 
one-cent  letter.  He  appealed  to  the  postmaster,  small- 
town express  agent  and  similar  "business  men"  in  those 
days,  of  course ;  nevertheless,  to  a  high-grade  business  house 


CLASSIFICATIONS  91 

the  rule  of  a  single  inclosure  to  a  letter  may  well  be  ad- 
hered to. 

A  California  furniture  house  planned  a  series  of  inclo- 
sures  which  produced  traceable  business.  This  concern  got 
up  an  inclosure  that  looked  like  a  certificate;  in  fact,  it 
was  a  credit  certificate,  permitting  the  recipients — all  were 
former  customers  to  whom  credit  would  be  extended  but 
who  for  some  unknown  reason  were  no  longer  customers 
of  the  store — to  call  and  buy  on  credit  without  the  necessity 
of  interviewing  the  credit  manager  and  formally  reopening 
their  account.  The  designer  of  this  system  reported  at  the 
San  Francisco  meeting  of  the  Direct  Mail  Advertising 
Association  in  1918 :  * '  I  sent  out  about  1200  of  those 
letters  and  we  made  over  100  direct  sales  of  pretty 
good  size." 

An  installment  collection  manager,  according  to  a  writer 
in  Mailbag,  August,  1920,  page  155,  made  use  of  an  inclo- 
sure for  the  improvement  of  collections.  He  found  that 
many  customers  forgot  the  due  dates  of  their  installments. 
This  necessitated  collection  letters;  moreover,  once  a  cus- 
tomer got  behind  he  stayed  behind,  as  a  rule.  This  collec- 
tion man  now  incloses  a  small  celluloid  card,  the  back  of 
which  carries  a  yearly  calendar  and  the  due  dates  of  each 
of  that  recipient's  installments  are  printed  in  red  ink.  The 
letter  explains  the  calendar.  While  this  device  is  practi- 
cally a  novelty  (see  Section  97),  still  as  used  in  this  in- 
stance it  is  a  result-getting  envelope  inclosure. 

Maximum  results  accrue  only  from  inclosures  when  they 
are  planned  to  accomplish  a  certain  purpose  in  the  general 
advertising  campaign. 

75.  Package  Inserts. — "When  you  stop  to  consider  the 
person  who  has  already  bought  your  product  and  the  po- 
tential possibilities  you  have  to  keep  him  buying  more  of 
that  same  product,  as  well  as  any  other  products  made  by 
your  firm,  as  compared  with  the  less  determinate  possibili- 
ties of  selling  a  new  customer,  j'ou  get  an  idea  of  the  im- 
portance of  package  inserts. 

George  C.  Frolich,  United  Drug  Company,  in  addressing 


92  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

the  Detroit  convention,  for  example,  said  that  one  year 
when  he  was  manager  of  the  department  they  sold  20,000,- 
000  pamphlets  to  their  dealers  for  distribution  in  packages 
of  merchandise  which  went  out  of  the  store. 

Package  inserts  may  be  defined  as  slips,  cards,  or  other 
inclosures  placed  within  the  original  package,  aimed  at  the 
dealer  or  consumer  or  hoth,  as  the  case  may  he. 

76.  Unlimited  Possibilities  for  Package  Inserts. — There 
is,  practically  speaking,  no  limit  to  the  use  of  package  in- 
serts, and  you  will  find  them  used  by  many  national  adver- 
tisers. Fig.  26  illustrates  several  package  inserts,  but 
hundreds  of  other  examples  might  have  been  used  for  illus- 
tration purposes.  Here,  for  instance,  is  a  package  insert 
used  with  a  tube  of  Lysol  shaving  cream.  One  side  tells 
me  how  to  get  a  good  shave ;  on  the  other  side  I  find  a  whole 
"family"  of  products  advertised,  including  a  soap,  disin- 
fectant, etc. 

Or,  here  is  an  insert  wrapped  around  a  can  of  Lyon's 
tooth  powder.  On  its  reverse  side  we  find  complete  direc- 
tions in  four  foreign  languages  for  using  the  powder — does 
it  take  much  imagination  to  determine  what  tooth  powder 
will  gain  in  use  among  foreign-speaking  peoples  once  they 
learn  of  Lyon 's,  if  other  manufacturers  do  not  follow  suit  ? 

Even  such  a  prosaic  product  as  a  glass  fruit- jar  has  a 
package  insert.  The  inclosure  before  the  writer  gives  some 
directions  for  canning  vegetables. 

Again,  here  is  a  shaving  cream  of  unusual  kind,  and  the 
insert  describes  how  to  open  the  tube  and  how  to  use  it. 

Such  a  well-known,  national  advertiser  as  the  National 
Biscuit  Company  is  a  heavy  user  of  package  inserts,  as  the 
several  exhibits  on  Fig.  26  show.  In  the  box  of  Nabiscos 
we  find  an  insert  advertising  Fig  Newtons,  while  the  pack- 
age of  Fig  Newtons  probably  brought  us  the  insert  on 
Unity  Iced  Jumbles,  and  so  on. 

Nearly  all  packages  of  cigarettes  carry  inserts.  Only  two 
are  shown.  One  is  merely  the  claim-all  slogan,  "The  Ut- 
most in  Cigarettes,"  followed  by  the  manufacturer's  name 
and  the  words,  very  small,  "this  package  guaranteed"; 


CLASSIFICATIONS 


93 


the  other  tells  you  what  to  do  if  the  cigarettes  are  not  sat- 
isfactory and  serves  as  a  guarantee  slip. 

Most  candies  likewise  carry  an  insert,  the  one  of  Page  & 
Shaw  is  illustrated. 

The  Bond  Bread  insert  pictured  was  used  in  New  York 
City,  and  was  placed  within  the  waxed  paper  wrapper ;  on 
the  back  of  it  we  find  a  very  brief  but  interesting  history  of 
this  brand  of  bread  from  its  inception  in  New  York  City 
to  its  second  birthday.  A  piece  of  good  business  strategy 
is  involved  here.  We  understand  that  prior  to  putting 
this  brand  of  bread  on  the  market  it  had  been  considered 
a  necessary  part  of  merchandising  bakers'  breads  to  bring 
out  a  new  brand  about  once  a  year  and  depend  for  its  sale 


liquid  Petrolatum  Merck 

This  l9  used  in  place  of  purgatlvef. 
Lubricates  the  intestines.  Tasteless. 

Carbon  Tetrachloride  Merck 

Non-explosive  compound  for  clean- 
ing clothes,  ffloves.  removing  grrease 
spots,  etc.    Qoodfire  exttnguiahert 

Creolin-Pearson. 

Disinfectant.  Antiseptic  Wash,  and 

Deodorant. 

Jietiim  thti  tUpfnr  a  free,  copv  of  Oht$. 

traied  "Handy  Book  on  Sanitation." 

Be  sure  to  aalc  your  <3rusKist  for  the  above 
ia  original  packages  bearing  our  labeL 


MERCIC  &  CO. 

A  <542  <°^'^> 


New  York 


**You  can 
depend  on 
MerckV 

Ask  your  Druggist  foirr 

Phosphate  of  Soda  Merck 

Milk  Sugar  Merck 

Barley  Flour  Merck 

Boric  Acid  Merck 

Bicarbonate  of  Soda  Merck 

Hydrogen  Peroxide  Merck 

21inc  Stearate,  Scented,  Merck 
Soothing,  fragrant  powder.  Prevents 
chafing.    Not  alTected  by  moisture. 
Mail  this  dip/or  a  free  sample. 

(OVEE) 


Fig.  28. — In  the  above  illustration  both  sides  of  a  diminutive  packajre  in- 
sert, whioh  "gets  over"  a  big  story  in  small  space,  are  reproduced,  full  size. 

mainly  on  the  novelty  of  the  name.  This  mode  of  reselling 
the  bread,  once  a  year  with  a  package  insert,  successfully 
strikes  at  the  root  of  one  trouble  in  the  bread  business. 

The  long  slip  insert  is  wrapped  around  a  stick  of  Wil- 
liams' shaving  stick  soap.  It  bears  a  complete  set  of 
directions  how  to  utilize  more  of  your  shaving  stick  by 
means  of  a  new  form  of  refill  stick. 

Fig.  28  illustrates,  full  size,  the  front  and  back  of  a 
package  insert  used  b}'  a  firm  manufacturing  a  line  of  drug 
products.     Note  how  a  free  book  is  offered  on  this  slip, 


94  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

small  as  it  is.  Fig.  23  F  illustrates  a  simple  package  insert 
of  the  guarantee  type.  On  the  reverse  there  is  no  printing, 
but  figures  stamped  on  it  by  a  numbering  machine  probably 
give  the  manufacturers  a  key  to  the  time  of  production  of 
the  contents  of  this  particular  box;  perhaps  they  indicated 
the  packer's  number  or  other  information  of  significance. 

77.  Seven  Main  Functions  Accomplished  by  Package 
Inserts. — There  are  in  all  seven  main  classifications  of  pack- 
age inserts:  (1)  Inserts  directed  to  get  reorders  for  the 
same  goods;  (2)  inserts  that  are  to  introduce  others  in  the 
same  ''family"  or  allied  products,  as  in  Fig.  26,  for  exam- 
ple; (3)  inserts  giving  instructions  or  directions  as  to  use; 
(4)  inserts  to  secure  names  of  new  prospects.  This  plan, 
which  has  been  used  by  many  firms  to  good  advantage,  asks 
the  buyer  to  suggest  names  of  other  possible  buyers ;  some- 
times a  novelty  based  on  the  firm's  product  is  offered  for  the 
return  of  the  names;  (5)  inserts  which  aim  purely  for  gen- 
eral publicity  such  as  the  one,  "Utmost  in  Cigarettes," 
on  Fig.  26 ;  (6)  inserts  which  are  in  the  form  of  a  guarantee 
to  the  purchaser,  as  well  as  inspection  labels  and  inserts 
including  the  guarantee  such  as  Fig.  26;  and  (7)  inserts 
which  suggest  new  uses  for  an  old  product,  to  increase  sales 
indirectly. 

78.  Results  Can  Be  Traced  Where  Direct  Inquiries  Are 
Asked  For. — Where  direct  inquiries  are  asked  for  results 
may  be  traced  to  package  inserts,  but  where  the  inserts  are 
purely  of  a  general  publicity  or  educational  nature,  as 
noted,  for  instance,  in  the  miniature  booklets,  "The  Story  of 
Writing,"  "How  Steel  Pens  are  Made,"  and  others  illus- 
trated on  Fig.  26,  no  xiireet  results  can  be  expected.  These 
booklets  ("How  Steel  Pens  are  Made"  measure  IVj.  x  2 
inches  only  and  contain  but  12  pages)  are  inserted  within 
a  box  of  pens  and  go  direct  to  the  buyers  of  pens.  The 
Esterbrook  company  comments  on  them  in  this  manner: 
' '  In  addition  to  being  a  unique  method  of  arousing  interest, 
inasmuch  as  they  provide  the  recipient  with  a  knowledge 
of  the  product  in  question,  they  are  also,  in  their  way,  ef- 
fective sales  producers." 


CLASSIFICATIONS  95 

Gail  Murphy  in  a  talk  before  the  Cleveland  convention 
of  the  Direct  Mail  Advertising  Association,  commenting 
on  package  inserts,  said :  ' '  The  manufacturer  who  makes  a 
good  product  and  neglects  to  take  this  opportunity  (of  us- 
ing package  inserts)  to  sell  the  buyer  more  thoroughly  on  it, 
is  overlooking  one  of  the  greatest  forms  of  direct  advertis- 
ing." 

The  Royal  Baking  Powder  Company,  according  to  an 
article  in  Printers'  Ink,  May  1,  1913,  page  4,  drew,  by  use 
of  a  small  circular  package  insert  offering  a  special  recipe 
book  which  is  not  advertised  elsewhere,  "hundreds  of  let- 
ters a  day  from  all  over  the  country, ' ' 

Perhaps  the  most  unusual  result-getting  package  insert  is 
really  a  package-wrapper.  Procter  &  Gamble  put  an  extra 
wrapper  around  their  Crisco  cans  in  addition  to  the  label. 
They  Utilize  the  Inside  op  This  Wrapper  for  Advertis- 
ing Purposes.  The  outside  of  the  wrapper  is  almost  a 
duplicate  of  the  regular  label  on  the  can  itself,  except  that 
there  is  displayed  in  two  places  this  injunction : 

"IMPORTANT 
See  Inside  of  this  Wrapper." 

The  housewife  on  opening  it  up  finds  some  helpful  general 
directions  for  using  Crisco  and  a  large  return  slip  offering 
four  different  books  on  cooking.  This  wrapper  not  only 
utilizes  the  space  that  would  otherwise  be  wasted,  but  also 
gets  before  the  user  of  the  product  a  selling  message  at 
practically  no  cost. 

Premium  wrappers  and  premium  inserts  are,  of  course, 
complete  checks  on  the  result-getting  values  of  package  in- 
serts. The  package  inserts  aimed  at  dealers,  unless  they 
bear  directions  as  to  display  or  protection,  are  usually 
premium  inserts. 

As  an  excellent  example  of  the  latter  class,  see  Printers' 
Ink,  October  8,  1914,  page  31,  describing  the  marvelous 
success  of  selling  what  was  once  a  new  Wrigley  product — 
"  Doublemint. "  A  dealer  bought  a  box  of  Spearmint  and 
found  within  it  a  coupon  form  of  package  insert  advertis- 


96  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

ing  the  new  Doublemint  variety,  and  offering,  within  a 
certain  time  limit,  one  box  of  the  new  brand  provided 
the  dealer  bought  one  or  more  boxes  of  Spearmint.  These 
inserts  were  redeemed  from  the  jobbers  by  the  manufac- 
turer, of  course.  This  method  was  tantamount  to  giving 
away  a  free  box  of  Doublemint,  but  made  the  dealer  ap- 
preciate and  push  the  new  brand  by  placing  a  value  upon 
the  package  insert.  The  jobber  got  his  regular  profit  even 
on  the  free  box,  it  should  be  added.  But  note  how  shrewdly 
the  gum  company  made  the  entire  campaign  self-sup- 
porting; since  an  additional  order  for  Spearmint,  the 
regular  and  well-known  brand,  was  required  to  get  the  free 
goods. 

The  Kolynos  Company,  New  Haven,  Conn.,  manufactur- 
ers of  a  dental  cream,  inclose  a  postal  card  with  every 
sample  of  cream  they  send  out.  This  card  provides  spaces 
for  the  names  and  addresses  of  seven  friends  who,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  recipient  of  the  sample,  would  like  a  sample 
of  this  dental  cream.  L.  A.  Jenkins,  of  the  Kolynos  Com- 
pany, commenting  on  this  package-insert  idea,  said :  "As 
a  result  thousands  of  these  packages  (samples)  are  mailed 
out  monthly ;  it  forms  an  excellent  method  of  advertising. ' ' 

It  should  be  added  that  results  are  not  usually  so  good 
where  attempts  have  been  made  to  use  inserts  in  products 
which  do  not  go  to  the  consumers  in  original  packages  or 
where  the  goods  have  to  be  repacked  by  jobbers  or  other 
distributors.  In  these  cases  the  inserts  frequently  get  "lost 
in  the  shuffle. ' ' 

79.  Much  more  might  be  said,  even  in  this  general  physi- 
cal classification,  about  package  inserts,  for  the  field  is  al- 
most unlimited  and  new  methods  of  distributing  are  being 
developed  almost  daily.  Printers'  Ink,  April  10,  1919, 
page  48,  tells  how  in  a  campaign  to  increase  the  consump- 
tion of  milk  in  New  England  an  ingenious  paper  device  was 
gotten  out  and  placed  over  the  neck  of  every  bottle  of  milk 
sold  by  the  dealers  who  subscribed  to  the  campaign.  "On 
one  side,"  reports  the  article  referred  to,  "the  use  of  milk 
as  a  diet  was  urged  by  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Food 


CLASSIFICATIONS  97 

Administration.     On  the  other  side   were   printed  some 
easily  prepared  recipes  containing  milk." 

When  we  begin  to  get  direct  advertising  via  the  tops  of 
our  morning's  milk,  when  morning  newspapers  take  extra 
copies  and  stick  thereon  a  piece  of  "direct  advertising" — 
a  small  separate  slip  that  is — telling  us;  "No,  I  did  not 
blow  on  to  your  porch,  I  came  as  a  sample,"  and  so  on, 
what  may  we  expect  next  in  the  way  of  package  inserts? 

80.  Package  Inserts  Differ  from  Envelope  Inclosures. 
— Attention  should  be  called  to  the  fact  that  package  inserts 
usually  go  only  to  people  who  have  already  bought  some 
of  your  goods,  though  occasionally  they  are  inserted  with 
"samples";  envelope  inclosures  go  to  prospects  as  well  as 
regular  users  and,  therefore,  while  package  inserts  are  akin 
to  envelope  inclosures  they  are  not  identical  with  them  and 
should  be  planned  separately,  for  reasons  to  be  set  forth  at 
length  in  Chapters  VIII  and  X. 

81.  Broadsides. — As  we  saw  in  Section  22,  it  is  quite 
hard  to  define  absolutely  any  particular  physical  form  of 
direct  advertising,  and  it  is  even  harder  to  define  the  broad- 
side. For  all  general  purposes,  however,  we  may  character- 
ize broadsides  as  printed  sheets  25  x  38,  or  down  to  half  that 
size,  folded  down  for  mailing  purposes,  to  about  5  x  lOYo, 
9  x  12,  or  10  X  6  inches,  mailed  either  under  their  own  cover 
{literally  auto-contained)   or  in  a  special  envelope. 

The  placing  of  the  broadside  within  the  campaign  is 
worthy  of  note.  It  is  usual  to  send  out  the  broadside 
either  as  the  opening  gun — the  first  piece — or  the  "mop 
up"  or  last  piece.  In  the  first  case  it  is  used  for  its  size 
— to  dominate  the  prospect.  In  the  latter  instance  it  is 
often  used  as  a  "review"  piece,  that  is,  the  entire  cam- 
paign is  reviewed  on  the  final  and  parting  shot. 

Where  the  campaign  calls  for  but  one  piece  a  broadside 
can  sometimes  be  used  advantageously  tliougli  usually  a  let- 
ter is  preferable  for  a  single-piece  campaign. 

82.  How  Broadsides  Differ  from  Other  Physical  Forms. 
— Broadsides  differ  from  other  physical  forms  of  direct  ad- 
vertising primarily   in  size.     They  are  really  only  large 


98  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

mailing  cards  or  circulars;  sometimes  they  are  of  a  heavy 
stock  like  a  cover  paper,  or  of  a  heavy  weight  of  coated 
paper.  They  differ  from  folders  only  in  that  their  folding 
is  always  simple,  no  ''stunts"  or  "trick"  folds  being 
used  in  broadsides. 

Years  ago  when  paper  was  almost  a  glut  on  the  market 
broadsides  filled  the  mails ;  during  the  war  when  paper  was 
scarce,  they  were  not  used  very  often. 

Fig.  29  shows  some  typical  broadsides,  though  because 
of  their  huge  size  it  is  almost  impossible  to  picture  them 
adequately. 

Take  the  broadside  bearing  the  large  "X"  and  "What 
Does  It  Mean  to  You  ? "  on  the  front.  As  that  reaches  the 
prospect  it  measures  9^/2  x  6l^  inches.  I  open  it ;  I  now 
face  a  sheet  9i/2  x  121/^  inches.  In  this  case  only  the  upper 
half  bears  any  printing,  and  I  read:  "X,  it  means  the 
biggest  crowds  that  ever  jammed  their  way  into  your 
theatre!"  The  lower  fold  is  entirely  blank.  I  turn  the 
fold  naturally  (in  this  connection  see  Section  263),  and  I 
now  face  a  sheet  191/4  inches  wide  by  12i/^.  It  is  composed 
of  four  parts — made  by  the  creases — folds — on  the  upper 
left-hand  space;  I  gaze  at  a  big  persian-orange  "X"  ap- 
proximately 5  inches  square,  while  at  the  lower  right  hand 
in  large  type  I  read:  "It  means  you'll  stand  head  and 
shoulders  over  every  other  theatre  in  town  as  long  as  '  X '  is 
there!" 

I  turn  the  fold  again,  naturally,  and  now  face  a  sheet 
191/4  inches  wide  by  25  inches  deep,  composed  of  eight  of 
those  folded-creased  spaces,  on  the  upper  four  of  which 
there  is  a  still  bigger  persian-orange  "X,"  this  time  ap- 
proximately 10  inches  square,  and  the  lower  four  of  which 
we  see — each  succeeding  line  in  a  larger  type  than  the  pre- 
ceding. "It  means  a  new  record  of  attendance  at  your 
theatre.  It  means  banner  profits,  increased  good  will,  sat- 
isfied patrons.  In  other  words — it  means  the  biggest  pic- 
ture of  the  year  I"    The  italic  lines  were  in  persian  orange. 

Once  more  I  turn  the  fold,  this  time  having,  however,  to 


Fig.    29. — Tlio   l)roadsides   pictured   have   been   proatly   reduced    he- 
cause  of  limited  space.     See  text  for  details. 


Fig.  30. — Folders  are  not  so  popular  to-day  as  tlioy  woio  whcji 
I'lU'lo  Sam  let  you  run  wild  on  tlio  fr<in1  cover  and  iw-rniittcd  you 
to  mail  irrejiular-sliajx'il  ])i(>ces  without  envelopes.  ,\  few  auto- 
contained  and  conventional  folders  are  sliown  here. 


CLASSIFICATIONS  99 

make  an  unnatural  turn  so  as  to  have  the  full  wide-opened 
25  X  38  sheet  before  me,  with  the  message  on  the  narrow 
width,  and  I  read  a  regular  movie-poster  in  r^ard  to 
"Madame  X,"  illustrated  with  one  oval  half-tone  15x20 
inches  in  size,  and  a  square  finished  half-tone  with  black 
border  of  22  x  9  inches  in  size. 

This  is  a  regular,  full-sized  broadside.  The  piece  you  see 
finally  opened  is  composed  of  16  of  those  spaces  made  by 
the  folds  (creases)  referred  to  in  earlier  paragraphs. 

"Just  Two  Sizes"  when  fully  opened  up  measures 
21  X  14  inches  and  by  some  might  not  be  classed  as  a  broad- 
side at  all. 

' '  The  Lid  is  Off ! "  opens  up  to  18  x  241/0. 

"Into  your  Hands"  opens  up  to  35 1/^  x  231/^,  which  means 
it  is  a  38  X  25  sheet  opening  on  the  broad  way  but  has  been 
cut  down  in  trimming. 

" — and  now  you  buy  the  Group"  opens  up  to  171/2  x 
211/^  inches  and  is  printed  upon  a  cover  stock.  This  is  the 
only  one  on  Fig.  29  which  required  a  separate  mailing  en- 
velope. 

83.  Function  of  the  Broadside  Is  to  "Put  Over"  the 
Idea  of  Bigness. — The  fundamental  idea  behind  the  broad- 
side is  always  bigness,  for  the  purpose  of  making  an  im- 
pression. Take  the  examples  illustrated  on  Fig.  29 ;  the 
"Madam  X"  broadside  goes  to  movie-house  owners  and  is 
aimed  to  induce  them  to  book  the  picture.  It  wants  to  sug- 
gest BIG  profits  through  big  crowds  and  uses  the  idea  of 
actual  bigness  to  do  it. 

The  skate  broadside  is  mailed  to  dealers  and  tries  to  sell 
a  big  idea — that  with  two  sizes  of  this  firm's  skates  all  sizes 
of  shoes  can  be  fitted. 

"The  Lid  is  Off!"  went  to  dealers  in  footwear  and  sim- 
ilar products  of  the  United  States  Rubber  Company,  im- 
mediately following  the  armistice.  It  has  an  added  value : 
inclosed  with  it  were  stickers  for  putting  up  the  sheet, 
finally  opened,  in  the  dealer's  window  so  that  the  message 
that  rubber  goods  were  again  available  might  be  passed  on 
to  the  consumer. 


100         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

"Into  your  Hands"  went  to  dealers  in  automobile  acces- 
sories, also  to  jobbers;  it  told  of  the  policy  of  the  firm's  ad- 
vertising and  sales  campaign ;  inside  there  was  attached  with 
a  seal  sticker  a  return  postal  card. 

The  magazine  broadside  was  mailed  to  advertising  man- 
agers and  aimed  to  sell  an  entire  group  of  publications.  It 
partook  of  the  billboard  type  of  advertising. 

In  practically  every  one  of  these  cases  the  list  was  com- 
paratively sinall  and  yet  broadsides,  especially  those  a 
half-sheet  in  size  (half  of  25x38  either  way),  have  been 
used  with  telling  effect  upon  consumers  and  users. 

84.  The  Use  of  Broadsides  and  Results  from  Their 
Use. — The  usual  use  for  broadsides,  therefore,  is  upon  the 
small  list,  dealers,  or  picked  lists  of  big  possible  users.  The 
Pyrene  Company  used  a  smashing  broadside,  full  of  red, 
upon  a  list  of  high-rated  manufacturing  firms  some  years 
ago.  A  firm  manufacturing  steel  desks  put  over  the  idea  of 
their  beauty  by  using  a  half-sheet  broadside  almost  all  of 
the  wide-opened  fold  of  which  was  taken  up  with  a  mam- 
moth half-tone  reproduction  in  color  of  the  desk  itself. 

The  results  come  from  impressions  rather  than  from  re- 
turns, and  while  the  broadside  may  well  be  used  as  an  ef- 
fective piece  in  a  campaign  it  is  seldom  used  in  a  series. 
The  man  who  tries  to  emphasize  every  word  by  shouting 
soon  becomes  a  pest  instead  of  a  joy  to  listen  to,  as  you 
know. 

85.  Folders. — Under  the  classification  we  have  imposed 
upon  ourselves,  folders  are  to  be  defined  as  mailing  pieces 
calling  for  unusual  folds  or  "stunts,"  especially  those  which 
require  special  dies.  They  are  as  a  rule  mailed  under  their 
own  cover;  i.e.,  "auto-contained";  though  since  the  recent 
governmental  ruling  (see  Section  379)  fewer  auto-contained 
folders  are  being  used  because  their  strong  features  are 
their  covers  and  the  Post  Office  Department  has  almost 
banned  pictorial  covers. 

86.  Folders  Are  the  "Clever"  Pieces  of  Direct  Adver- 
tising, as  a  Rule. — While  there  are  some  exceptions,  as  we 
have  classified  the  various  physical  forms  of  direct  advertis- 


CLASSIFICATIONS  101 

ing,  folders  are  the  * '  clever ' '  pieces ;  therein  lie  both  their 
strength  and  weakness,  for  their  very  cleverness  may  some- 
times militate  against  their  effectiveness.  The  reader  may 
remember  the  cleverness,  take  the  folder  home  to  amuse  the 
children,  yet  fail  to  get  your  sales  message  or  buy  any  of 
your  products. 

Fig.  30  illustrates,  as  well  as  is  possible  with  a  flat  re- 
production, a  few  folders. 

The  projecting  tip  on  the  one  headed  "The  Future"  in- 
serts in  a  slit  at  the  point  indicated,  and  when  the  folder  has 
been  folded  at  points  A — A  and  B — B  and  the  tip  inserted 
in  the  slit  on  the  opposite  edge  of  B — B,  serves  as  a  means 
of  holding  together  for  mailing  purposes  the  folder  itself. 
There  are  many  methods  of  making  the  folder  inclose  itself 
without  the  aid  of  a  sticker  or  clip,  some  of  which  are  pat- 
ented; the  one  shown  is  of  the  simplest  type. 

''Uncover  Bigger  Profits"  was  a  favorite  form  in  those 
days  when  there  were  no  postal  restrictions  as  to  size  and 
shape.     In  this  connection  see  Section  379. 

"Here's  Something  New"  is  a  very  elaborate  folder. 
The  billiard  table  and  the  three  figures  are  actually  on  a 
separate  piece  from  the  background  of  the  room  and  pasted 
on  what  represents  a  floor.  When  properly  opened  the  fig- 
ures and  table  are  a  quarter  of  an  inch  from  the  back  wall. 

"Soil  Culture"  represents  the  simpler  use  of  the  die  in 
making  folders.  That  circle  is  die-cut  and  permits,  as  you 
see,  that  much  of  a  half-tone  reproduction  of  a  field  with  a 
harrow  at  work.  Except  for  this  die  work  in  connection 
with  several  folds  this  piece  might  as  well  have  been  classi- 
fied as  a  mailing  card  or  circular. 

"Cold  Weather  Need  Not  Stop  Your  Building"  is  an  ex- 
ample of  a  folder  which  requires  an  envelope  for  mailing. 
The  thermometer  is  die-cut  and  the  tongue  part  of  it  in- 
serted in  a  slit  in  the  building  picture  as  indicated.  By 
its  use  is  driven  home  the  idea  of  building  in  freezing 
weather.     (See  Section  144  for  results.) 

87.  Unusual  Sizes  and  Shapes  Used  in  Folder  Form. — 


102         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

While  booklets,  broadsides,  envelope  inclosures  and  other 
such  physical  forms  of  direct  advertising  must  follow  con- 
ventional and  standardized  sizes  and  shapes,  as  a  rule  the 
folder  is  not  so  restricted ;  it  is  limited  by  mailing  and 
printing  and  folding  possibilities  and  the  size  of  the  paper 
or  cardboard  to  be  used. 

In  Section  262  we  shall  take  up  briefly  the  matter  of 
folding,  but  let  it  be  said  here  that  there  are  almost  un- 
limited ways  in  which  a  sheet  of  cardboard  or  paper  can  be 
folded  up  so  as  to  produce  ingenious  and  often  surprising 
effects.  Summing  up  the  situation,  almost  any  fold  which 
is  not  clumsy  is  a  good  one. 

88.  Blotters. — The  useful  as  well  as  ornamental  type  of 
direct  advertising,  yet  one  that  practically  no  one  buys, 
withal,  an  advertising  piece  that  practically  every  one  uses, 
is  the  BLOTTER,  From  our  childhood  days  when  we  drew 
all  of  the  ink  out  of  the  inkwell  in  the  school  desk  by  the 
aid  of  a  blotter  we  have  known  it  as  a  piece  of  absorbent 
paper.  But  in  our  mature  or  advertising  days  we  find 
phj^sically  there  are  two  kinds  of  blotters,  one  with  an 
enameled  top  surface,  for  good  printing  results,  use  of 
half-tones,  color  plates,  and  so  on,  and  the  other  the  old- 
time,  entirely  absorbent  blotter. 

To  complete  our  definitions  we  shall  characterize  a  blotter 
as  any  piece  of  blotting  paper,  with  or  ivithout  an  enameled 
surface,  used  for  direct  advertising  purposes  singly  or  in 
series,  as  a  house  organ  or  for  direct  mailings. 

There  are  three  diff^erent  kinds  of  blotters  considered  from 
the  physical  form:  (1)  Single  pieces,  various  sizes;  (2)  sev- 
eral pieces  fastened  together  with  a  celluloid  or  other 
"cover"  ;  and  (3)  large  desk  blotters,  not  as  popular  as  they 
once  were.  Either  or  all  of  these  forms  may  have  the  calen- 
dar features,  one  or  more  months,  incorporated  with  them. 

Sloan  and  Mooney  in  "Advertising  a  Technical  Product" 
tell  of  an  effective  blotter  campaign  which  utilized  a  double 
No.  10  blotter,  with  the  recipient's  name  printed  thereon. 
This  is  a  form  of  personalizing  (see  Section  192). 

89.  The  Blotter  Has  Utility  Value. — As  indicated  in 


LETTERGRAM 


Fi<r.  31. — One  thing  we  seldom  buy  is  a  blotter.  Projiorly 
planned  l)lotters  can  be  made  to  do  a  lot  of  work  in  a  diiecl  ad- 
vertising campaign. 


CLASSIFICATIONS 


103 


Section  88,  blotters  have  utility  value,  and  there  are  but  few 
people  who  do  not  depend  upon  advertising  blotters  for 
their  supply. 

Fig.  31  illustrates  several  different  kinds  of  blotters. 
Tanki,  Packers,  and  Lettergram  are  of  regular  blotting 
paper,  both  sides  of  which  can  be  used  for  absorbing  pur- 
poses; while  all  of  the  rest  have  an  enameled  surface.  The 
Almond  blotter,  with  which  is  combined  a  calendar,  it  will 
be  noted,  and  the  Gatchel  &  Manning  blotters  are  in  several 
colors.  On  the  original  of  the  latter  those  tomatoes  show 
up  in  actual  color. 

The  Vandercook  blotter  (Fig.  32  A)  bears  both  an  inch 
and  a  pica,  rule  to  add  to  its  usefulness. 

The  little  ''57  per  cent"  blotter  (Fig.  33)  is  of  unusual 
size  and  shape.    As  a  rule,  blotters  are  of  a  size  to  fit  either 


Fig.  32. — Otlier  blotter  appeals  are  illustrated  in  this  line  engrav- 
ing. A.  How  the  utilitarian  appeal  may  be  increased  even  in  the  ease 
of  the  blotter — two  ditFerent  kinds  of  rules  are  made  a  part  of  this 
piece,  one  an  inch  rule,  and  the  other  a  pica  or  nonpareil  scale. 
B.  Observe  the  utilization  of  the  series  idea  in  blotters.  l?oth 
originals  are  printed  on  same  kind  of  stock — gray.  Note  how  the 
trade-mark  is  "played  up." 

a  614  or  6%  envelope  or  a  No.  10  envelope.  The  two 
blotters,  one  with  the  headinc:  ''Preparedness"  (Fig.  32  B) 
and  the  other  without  a  heading,  belong  to  a  series  issued 


104         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

by   a  particular   printing   house.     As   a   matter   of   fact, 
blotters  are  frequently  issued  in  series. 


57% 

of  All  News  Stand 
copies  of  the  August 

issues  sold  in  the 
FIRST  SEVEN  DAYS 

""Reader  Interest^' 
shows  on  the  neivs  stana 

Metiopolitai) 


L 


Fig.  33. — Here  is  reproduced  in  the  same  size 
as  the  original  one  of  many  blotters  gotten  out 
by  the  Metropolitan  magazine. 

go.  Blotters  Are  Also  Used  for  House  Organs. — While 
we  treat  of  house  organs  from  an  editorial  standpoint  in 
Section  57,  there  are  many  different  physical  classifications 
of  house  organs,  as  will  be  found  fully  treated  in  a  com- 
panion book  by  the  author  of  this  volume  ("Effective  House 
Organs").  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  tlie  form  differ- 
ing principally   from  the   physical   aspect   is   the   blotter 


CLASSIFICATIONS  105 

house  organ,  two  examples  of  which  are  shown  on  Fig.  31. 
One,  "Lettergram,"  is  on  regular  blotting  stock,  while  the 
other,  "Direct,"  is  on  an  enameled-surface  blotter, 

91.  Function  of  the  Blotter  Is  Reminder  Advertising. 
— Almost  without  exception,  blotter  advertising  is  used  for 
purely  reminder  purposes,  though  there  are  on  record  in- 
stances where  a  postal  card  mailed  out  with  a  blotter, 
usually  a  blotter  house  organ,  has  produced  enormous  re- 
sults. The  trouble  is  that  the  blotter  house  organ  soon 
loses  its  novelty,  and  when  the  novelty  wears  off  the  returns 
fall  off. 

Blotters  may  be  used  almost  universally,  for  school  chil- 
dren as  well  as  business  men,  with  appeals  to  men  as  well  as 
to  women,  for  homes  as  well  as  offices  hard  to  reach. 

Novelty  or  added  utility  value  helps  to  "put  them  over." 

92.  Blotters  Bring  Business. — In  the  first  number  of 
Volume  5  of  the  quarterly  publication,  Direct  Advertising, 
there  is  a  story  of  how  a  jMassachusetts  firm  manufacturing 
wireless  sets  used  a  series  of  planned  blotters  to  build  good 
will  among  steamship  owners  and  eventually  did  a  good 
business  with  them,  largely  through  this  form  of  advertis- 
ing.    See  also  Section  145. 

The  issue  of  Advertising  &  Selling  for  September  4, 
1920,  tells  how  the  American  Steam  Conveyor  Corporation 
used  a  blotter  as  a  new  form  of  salesman's  advance  card. 
This  firm  reached  a  conclusion  that  blotters  were  kept  and, 
wishing  to  give  its  salesmen  a  good  introduction,  this  con- 
cern chose  the  blotter  as  a  means  of  doing  it.  After  having 
first  tried  it  out  in  one  territory  the  firm  reported:  "So 
well  pleased  with  the  idea  that  arrangements  are  being  made 
to  introduce  other  sales  representatives  to  their  prospects 
n  this  manner."     See  also  page  80. 

93.  Poster  Stamps. — In  compiling  material  for  this  work 
personal  letters  were  written  to  several  artists  for  examples 
of  recent  American  poster  stamps.  The  answer  of  one  was 
typical:  "Poster  stamps  have  gone  out."  They  have. 
But  we  believe  they  are  coming  back  and  coming  back 
stronger  than  some  folk  realize.     First,  what  is  a  poster 


106         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

stamp  ?  "We  define  it  as  a  miniature  advertisement  contain- 
ing, necessarily,  hut  a  brief  message  reproduced  in  sticker 
form. 

94.  Poster  Stamps  Almost  Always  Supplement  Some 
Other  Form  of  Advertising. — Poster  stamps,  by  reason  of 
their  very  small  size  (some  of  them  are  no  larger  than  1  inch 
in  diameter,  or  II/2  inches  square),  are  necessarily  supple- 
mental to  all  other  forms  and  not  directly  responsive  them- 
selves, though  the  two  posters  for  the  National  Association 
of  Purchasing  Agents  on  Fig.  34  specifically  suggest  that 
the  reader  write  for  further  information.  The  original  of 
each  was  1%  x  2i^  inches  in  size. 

Many  of  those  illustrated  on  Fig.  34  are  specifically  re- 
ferring to  magazine  advertising  done  by  these  same  ad- 
vertisers, and  we  doubt  not  that  these  unobtrusive  little 
stickers  are  often  as  effective  as  larger  pieces  of  direct  ad- 
vertising might  be  under  some  circumstances. 

The  issue  of  Advertising  &  Selling  for  October  16,  1920, 
specifically  describes  this  use  of  the  poster  stamp  and  adds 
this  comment :  ' '  Used  to  merchandise  advertising  they 
(poster  stamps)  drive  that  advertising  home  into  the  con- 
sciousness of  all  those  who  should  be  interested  in  the  ad- 
vertising. There  is  no  national  campaign  that  can  not  gain 
in  effectiveness  through  their  use." 

The  illustrations  on  Fig.  34,  ' '  Turn  on  the  Current ' '  and 
*'Tenks  Clipper  Pocket  Knives,"  follow  more  the  order  of 
the  old  '' German-style "  poster  stamps,  and  doubtless  their 
German  origin,  associated  in  our  minds  with  what  happened 
in  1914,  and  especially  in  1918,  was  largely  instrumental  in 
killing  off  the  poster  idea  in  America.  The  others  on  the 
plate  referred  to  show  what  American  advertisers  have  done 
to  improve  the  idea.  The  small  double-circle  seal  is  inter- 
esting: it  is  an  example  of  use  of  a  small  poster  to  seal  a 
mailing  card,  folder,  broadside,  or  similar  auto-contained 
mailing  piece. 

One  might  well  term  poster  stamps  postscripts  of  all 
forms  of  direct  advertising.  Expert  letter-writers  know 
that     postscripts,     properly     used,     are     very     effective. 


Soine'(ellaf  | 

cigar  like  &e 
.  Ncw\brk  Subway? 

Because  it  is  d>e 
biggest  "seller" 
in  the  world. 


l' veto  a"  . 


S(;ra.\r)j\' 

color  (vio<iiuh(> 
Ntav'VVoni.iir.N 


\biirOnler 

HOW 


Fijr.  34. — That  poster  stamps  aro  oomiiiir  back  is  the  predict itm 
of  the  author  wlio  points  to  several  now  used  by  national  adver- 
tisers to  boost  general   publication  advertising. 


CLASSIFICATIONS  107 

Mail-order  houses  have  used  the  poster-stamp  idea  to  pro- 
duce actual  inquiries.  Maxwell  Droke  in  Postage  (^larch, 
1917,  page  110)  tells  of  a  series  which  Sears  Roebuck  & 
Company  used  to  produce  inquiries  for  certain  catalogues 
for  paint,  wall  paper,  houses,  clothing,  and  so  on.  They 
varied  the  idea  by  sending  out  sheets  of  stamps  in  letters 
and  catalogues,  each  stamp  good  for  a  certain  kind  of  cata- 
logue, thus  making  it  easy  for  the  prospect  to  write  for  a 
certain  catalogue. 

Printers'  Ink  for  May  13,  1915,  describes  how  effective  a 
series  of  poster  stamps  were  in  connection  with  an  automo- 
bile accessory  campaign  conducted  by  Gray  &  Davis. 

95.  Direct-Advertising  Novelties  or  Specialties. — The 
names  of  the  various  novelties  or  specialties  which  may 
properly  be  listed  as  direct  advertising,  not  considering 
manufactured  novelties  per  se,  are  legion,  but  we  shall  con- 
sider only  a  few  of  the  more  striking  to  point  the  way. 

No  attempt  at  definition  will  be  made  other  than  to  say 
that  by  novelty  or  specialty  in  direct  advertising  we  have 
reference  to  direct  advertising  which  does  not  fall  within 
any  of  the  other  physical  forms  described  in  the  two  parts 
of  Chapter  III  up  to  this  point, 

96.  Every  New  Form  of  Direct  Advertising  Is  at  First 
a  Novelty. — Naturally  there  arise  from  day  to  day  new 
forms  of  direct  advertising  and  for  awhile,  until  they  lose 
their  "novelty,"  they  are  novelty  or  specialty  forms  of 
direct  advertising.  The  main  forms  of  novelties  now  almost 
standardized  are:  (1)  Coupons,  (2)  Puzzles,  (3)  Tables 
with  utilitarian  values,  (4)  Reduced  photographic  repro- 
ductions, (5)  Printed  calendars — not  considering  the  art 
calendars  or  their  like,  (6)  Tip-ons,  attachment  and  similar 
"stunty"  attention-getters,  (7)  Containers  for  retailers' 
use,  (8)  Menus,  especially  when  furnished  by  advertisers 
for  food  caterers'  use,  (9)  Unusual  physical  forms.  Un- 
der the  latter  classification  we  have  reference  to  quite  im- 
usual  forms  which  come  up  from  time  to  time  as  direct- 
advertising  brains  evolve  new  ideas  in  make-up,  such  as  ad- 
vertising on  gummed  paper  tape  (see  Section  357). 


108         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

97.  Examples  of  Novelties  in  Direct  Advertising. — 
Figs.  35  and  36  show,  greatly  reduced,  a  number  of  forms  of 
novelty  or  specialty  direct  advertising. 

Four  different  coupon  forms  are  shown;  the  largest  is 
almost  a  "dodger,"  since  it  was  distributed  from  house  to 
house.  The  one  for  Lj^on  toothpowder  is  inclosed  in  addi- 
tion to  a  regular  package  insert  referred  to  in  Section  76. 
The  coupon  headed  "Free  Coupon"  was  used  by  the 
Bartlett  Nu  Products  Company  of  Pasadena,  Cal.  It  was 
sent  out  with  one  of  a  series  of  circular  (form)  letters. 
The  users  say  of  the  series:  "The  one  that  brought  the 
greatest  returns  is  the  one  containing  the  coupon.  People 
seem  to  be  prone  to  jump  at  something  for  nothing." 
These  are  of  Class  1,  referred  to  in  Section  96. 

The  Firestone  puzzle  (Class  2,  Section  96)  is  used  as  an 
envelope  inclosure,  but  it  is  surely  unusual  enough  to  be 
classed  as  a  "novelty." 

The  two  celluloid  "tables"  (Class  3,  Section  96)  are 
likewise  envelope  inelosures  but  rather  unusual  in  their  ap- 
peal. The  reverse  side  of  one  shows  a  price  list  and  of  the 
other  a  brand  list. 

The  two  very  small  photographic  reproductions  indicate 
Class  4  of  Section  96,  being  almost  poster  stamps,  one  with 
a  calendar  and  one  without;  they  have  a  value  which  the 
poster  stamp  does  not  have  in  that  they  are  real  photo- 
graphs and  so  recognized  by  the  prospect  as  portraying 
the  goods  "as  is,"  not  as  some  artist  has  thought  they 
looked. 

Two  forms  of  calendars  are  illustrated,  one  of  the  Alex- 
ander Brothers  on  one  of  the  sides  not  shown  has  a  com- 
plete year's  calendar.  These  are  Class  5,  referred  to  in 
the  preceding  section. 

Tip-ons  or  attachments  (Class  6,  Section  96)  to  increase 
attention  to  a  booklet,  or  other  piece  of  direct  advertising, 
are  well  illustrated  by  their  usage  in  the  Hearst's  Magazine 
booklet. 

Retailers  are  frequently  furnished  with  containers  for 
manufacturers'  products  like  the  paper  envelopes  (Class  7, 


Fi;_'.  ri,"). — Soniooiu'  lui'S  said  lliat  tlie  world  craves  now  ways  of 

doing  tliinjTs.     Direct  advertisers  crave  new  forms  of  old  appeals. 

Tliese  jrrcatly   reduced   illustrations  suLTuest    a    few  of   tlie  "newer" 
wavs. 


Fi^'.  3(i. — 'NTost  of  these  "novelty"  diroct-advertisinrr  appeals,  besides 
iH'iiig  excellent  pieces  of  advertising  matter,  are  serviceable. 


CLASSIFICATIONS  109 

Section  96)  of  the  Holeproof -Hosiery  and  Luxite  Hosiery 
illustrated. 

The  ruler  illustrated  is  made  of  cardboard  used  by  a 
printing  firm  that  is  specializing  in  card  work,  and  so 
doubly  apt;  together  with  the  "policy"  and  the  "memo- 
randum," which  is  composed  of  eight  pages  imitation  type- 
writing (printed)  on  legal  cap  (8V2  x  14  inches)  bound  in 
an  imitation  legal  cap  folder  simulating  a  legal  document, 
it  represents  Class  9  of  Section  96.  A  large  number  of 
others  might  be  illustrated.  System  for  May,  1920,  for  ex- 
ample, tells  a  very  interesting  story  of  how  the  Lily  Cup 
Company  uses  even  its  billheads  for  forms  of  direct  adver- 
tising. This  company  also  uses  several  very  unusual  inserts 
or  inclosures  for  collection  purposes,  all  of  which  properly 
should  be  classed  as  direct  advertising. 

Menus,  or  Class  8  of  Section  96,  are  of  two  classes: 
(1)  menus  published  by  a  company  in  conection  with  ban- 
quets, conventions,  etc.,  such  as  the  Master  Printers' 
Dinner,  shown  on  Fig.  36.  In  this  particular  case  the 
dinner  was  given  by  a  paper  manufacturer  so  the  menu  was 
a  "sample"  of  the  company's  product;  (2)  Menus  given  to 
restaurants  by  food  products  manufacturers.  For  an  illus- 
tration of  this  form  of  direct  advertising  see  Fig.  36.  Many 
food  manufacturers  can  to  their  advantage  adopt  the  idea ; 
many  others  selling  through  middlemen  may  well  adapt  it 
to  special  purposes. 

Full-sized  photographs  as  a  form  of  direct  advertising 
have  been  described  in  the  issue  of  Postage  for  ]\Iarch, 
1918  (see  page  5).  Examples  were  given  there  of  millin- 
ery, coats,  ranges,  and  hats  being  sold  by  photographic 
direct  advertising. 

Other  "novel"  forms  of  direct  advertising  but  not  illus- 
trated here  are  book  jackets,  the  extra  wrapper  usually  put 
around  a  book  by  the  book  publishers  and  used  by  them 
to  advertise  other  books  by  the  same  author  or  other  books 
of  a  similar  trend.  For  example,  there  was  probably  a 
wrapper  or- jacket  about  this  book  you  are  holding  when 
it  was  originally  sold.     That  wrapper  would  naturally  ad- 


110         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

vertise  other  business  books  issued  by  the  same  pub- 
lisher. The  wrapper  probably  carried  advertisements  of 
''Effective  House  Organs"  by  Ramsay,  ''Modern  Sales 
Management"  by  Frederick,  "Typography  of  Advertise- 
ments That  Pay"  by  Farrar,  together  vv^ith  a  long  list  of 
other  books  on  advertising  and  selling  topics. 

During  the  war  a  part  of  the  space  on  book  jackets  was 
taken  to  advertise  War  Savings  Stamps  and  similar  gov- 
ernment securities. 

The  war  developed  a  most  unusual  form  of  direct  adver- 
tising, but  since  the  war  it  has  not  been  employed — we  re- 
fer to  the  use  of  the  insides  of  chewing-gum  wrappers. 
During  the  war  these  carried  W.  S.  S.  and  Liberty  Loan 
advertising. 

These  instances,  which  at  first  glance  might  not  be  classi- 
fied under  the  heading  of  direct  advertising,  surely  come 
well  within  the  definition  set  forth  in  Chapter  II,  and  take 
a  sales  message  direct  from  its  maker  to  the  possible  buyer. 
In  one  way  they  are  even  more  effective  than  direct  mes- 
sages delivered  via  the  mails.  Take,  for  example,  the  man 
who  has  bought  one  business  book ;  he  has  spent  his  own 
money  to  prove  to  you  that  he  is  interested  in  business 
books. 

Railroad  time-tables  are  still  another  form  of  direct  ad- 
vertising, and  in  Printers'  Ink  Monthly,  September,  1920, 
there  is  a  complete  description  of  how  they  are  used  and 
how  valuable  this  form  of  advertising  has  become. 

The  New  York  Central,  for  example,  uses  the  two-fold 
center  spread,  which  is  in  reality  the  frontispiece  of  a  time- 
table, to  tell  its  patrons  what  it  is  doing  for  their  benefit, 
and  announces  an  imposing  list  of  equipment  purchased  at 
a  cost  of  $48,318,300. 

The  article  previously  referred  to  closes  with  this  pro- 
phetic paragraph :  ' '  The  whole  situation  indicates  an 
awakening  on  the  part  of  the  railroads  to  the  fact  that  they 
have  a  splendid  advertising  medium  in  their  own  hands 
which  can  be  used  to  good  effect.  It  naturally  follows  that 
renewed  efforts  are  being  made  to  make  that  medium  read- 


CLASSIFICATIONS  111 

able  and  attractive.  Travelers  must  have  time-tables. 
Railroads  now  plan  to  sell  them  on  the  whole  service  of  the 
line." 

Many  other  industries  are  in  the  position  of  the  railroads 
in  regard  to  their  time-tables — they  have  a  powerful  direct 
advertising  medium  at  hand  which  is  veritably  an  unde- 
veloped gold  mine. 

Business  calling  cards  might,  with  a  very  little  stretch  of 
one's  imagination,  be  classed  as  direct  advertising;  for  if, 
they  are  not  direct  advertising,  under  what  nomenclature 
do  they  come?  Frank  H.  Williams  in  the  issue  of  Printers' 
Ink  Monthly  for  May,  1920,  sizes  up  the  situation  when  he 
says:  "Most  manufacturers  overlook  the  importance  of 
having  good  copy  on  this  valuable  medium."  He  adds: 
"Business  cards  which  are  anything  more  than  mere  an- 
nouncements are  all  too  few."  We  shall  have  more  to 
say  on  this  subject,  in  regard  to  the  writing  of  copy,  in 
Chapter  X.  Take  hand  lettering,  for  instance,  it  is  an  ex- 
pensive product  and  an  artist  does  not  have  many  methods 
of  "sampling"  or  showing  his  product.  One  artist  got 
around  this  difficulty  by  photographing  several  of  his  pieces 
of  hand  lettering  and  sending  them  out  with  the  top  piece  a 
photographic  reproduction  such  as  is  shown  in  Fig,  36. 

98.  New  Forms  Frequently  Made. — As  suggested  in 
earlier  paragraphs,  new  physical  forms  are  frequently 
made,  sometimes  old  forms  are  rechristened,  such  as  "vi- 
talized letterheads"  to  take  the  place  of  four-page  letter- 
heads, and  so  on.  "Dramatized  letterheads"  were  in  vogue 
for  a  time. 

Checks,  even  money  itself,  have  been  used  upon  occasion 
as  means  of  gaining  attention  to  other  and  regular  forms  of 
direct  advertising.  A  firm  selling  a  veneered  basket  to 
candy  manufacturers  found  that  sending  out  a  check  was  a 
most  excellent  way  of  getting  attention.  This  check  was 
in  reality  a  form  or  adjunct  of  direct  advertising. 

99.  Function  of  This  Chapter. — Let  it  be  recorded  here 
that  the  function  of  this  chapter  is  simply  to  place  briefiy 
before  every  reader  a  clear  conception  of  the  many  and 


112         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

various  physical  forms  of  direct  advertising.  From  this 
point  on,  except  where  it  is  absolutely  necessary  for  clarity 
or  because  all  physical  forms  do  not  permit  of  the  descrip- 
tion in  hand,  we  shall  have  reference  to  all  forms  of  direct 
advertising.  Where  there  are  exceptions  they  will  be  noted, 
of  course. 

Questions  for  Class  Work  or  for  Review  Purposes 

1.  As  you  understand  it,  what  is  the  difference  between  physical 
forms  described  in  the  second  half  of  Chapter  III  and  those  de- 
scribed in  the  first  half? 

2.  What  would  you  recommend  mailing  cards  and  circulars  for, 
as  a  general  rule?     That  is,  what  general  type  of  advertising? 

3.  Define  an  envelope  inclosure  and  give  the  usual  sizes  and 
folds  used. 

4.  Wherein  do  package  inserts  differ  from  inelosures? 

5.  Name  the  seven  main  functions  of  the  package  insert  and 
illustrate  as  many  as  possible  from  your  own  experience. 

6.  Define  in  your  own  words  the  broadside  and  tell  what  it  is 
mostly  used  for  and  why. 

7.  What  is  meant  by  the  text  in  i-ef erring  to  a  "folder"  ?  What 
is  the  principal  weakness  of  this  form  of  direct  advertising? 

8.  Why  is  blotter  advertising  so  universally  used?  Can  you 
think  of  any  new  way  of  using  blotter  advertising? 

9.  Tell  what  you  can  about  poster  stamps,  their  origin,  possi- 
bilities, and  present  main  uses. 

10.  Explain  some  novel  forms  of  direct  advertising  and  supple- 
ment the  text  from  your  own  experience,  if  possible. 


CHAPTER  IV 


THE  LIST 


Who  hath  not  viewed,  with  rapture-smitten  frame, 
The  power  of  grace,  the  magic  of  a  name? 

— T.  Campbell. 

100.  What  Is  Meant  When  We  Speak  of  "The  List"? 

— You  use  practically  any  of  the  other  forms  of  advertisinf? 
referred  to  in  Fig.  1,  excepting  only  novelty  advertising  to 
be  exact,  and  the  list,  that  is,  of  the  people  who  may  see 
and  read  your  advertisement,  is  furnished  by  the  maker  of 
the  medium.  You  put  an  advertisement  in  the  newspaper ; 
it  can  only  be  seen  by  those  who  subscribe  for  or  buy 
copies  of  that  issue,  so  the  list  of  possible  readers  is  fur- 
nished by  the  publisher  of  the  paper. 

This  same  situation  exists  with  regard  to  all  other  forms 
of  publications — magazines,  business  papers,  farm  journals, 
directories,  programs — where  paid  for;  while  in  the  case 
of  electric  signs,  posters,  window  displays  and  similar  classes 
of  advertising,  the  list  implies  those  who  pass  by  your 
advertisement  and  chance  to  see  it.  In  the  case  of  street- 
car card  advertising,  and  all  programs  and  motion-picture 
advertising  (except  in  the  case  of  an  industrial  picture  of 
which  we  are  not  treating),  your  list  of  possible  readers  is 
those  who  have  paid  their  money  to  take  a  ride,  see  a  play 
or  a  picture,  and  the  possibility  of  any  one  of  them  noting 
your  advertisement  is  contingent  upon  first  having  at- 
tracted his  or  her  attention. 

But  in  the  case  of  direct  advertising  {and  house  organs) 
the  list  is  entirely  under  the  control  of  the  person  or  firm 
producing  the  advertising  matter. 

Direct-advertising  material  that  is  not  sent  to  some  one 
— in  other  words,  which  is  not  given  what  in  the  case  of 

113 


114         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

almost  all  other  forms  of  advertising  is  called  ' '  circulation ' ' 
— is  NOT  advertising  at  all ;  it  is  merely  paper  with  some 
form  of  printing  upon  it. 

The  list,  the  names  to  which  a  piece  of  direct  advertising 
is  to  be  sent  if  the  distribution  is  being  made  by  mail,  or 
the  persons  to  whom  a  piece  if  distributed  by  any  other 
means  is  to  be  sent,  given,  handed,  or  delivered,  is  then 
the  *  *  circulation ' '  of  your  direct  advertising. 

Without  "the  list"  there  is,  strictly  speaking,  no  direct 
advertising,  for  unless  the  latter  is  circulated  no  advertis- 
ing value  can  accrue.  The  list,  therefore,  means  everything 
in  direct  advertising;  it  is  the  first  and  foremost  essential 
in  any  use  of  this  form  of  publicity  whether  you  are  get- 
ting out  two  pieces  or  two  million  or  more. 

This  chapter,  therefore,  will  be  devoted  entirely  to  the 
subject  of  the  list. 

loi.  The  List  Is  Vital  to  the  Success  of  Every  Direct- 
advertising  Campaign. — Miss  Helen  Carter,  formerly  ad- 
vertising manager  of  the  Kabo  Corset  Company  and  presi- 
dent of  the  Women's  Advertising  Club  of  Chicago,  at  the 
1918  convention  of  the  Direct  Mail  Advertising  Association 
said  on  this  subject :  "  It  is  always  a  mystery  to  me  why 
people  will  spend  so  much  on  a  campaign  and  so  little  on 
their  lists.  A  company  that  I  know  of  last  year  spent 
$30,000  getting  out  a  mailing  campaign,  but  when  it  came  to 
their  lists  they  left  the  matter  entirely  to  their  branch  of- 
fices and  the  result  was  appalling. ' ' 

Some  years  ago  the  writer  took  up  work  with  a  concern 
rated  at  several  millions  of  dollars  and  found  its  mailing 
list  was  some  three  or  four  years  out  of  date.  The  loss 
in  letters  returned  "Unclaimed"  or  "Out  of  Business" 
was  startling. 

The  finest  booklet  in  the  world  selling  an  automobile 
accessory  would  be  useless  if  mailed  or  delivered  to  people 
not  owning  an  automobile  or  not  having  the  means  to  buy 
one. 

Statistics  show  that  every  year  there  are  changes  in  ex- 
cess of  20  per  cent  in  the  average  lists  of  householders, 


THE  LIST  115 

while  lists  of  dealers  fluctuate  from  15  to  20  per  cent  per 
year.  In  some  of  the  trades — a  barber,  for  example — 
changes  frequently  exceed  30  per  cent  in  a  single  year. 

The  reports  of  the  leading  mercantile  agencies  show  that 
there  are  in  this  country  alone  nearly  5,000  changes  in  firm 
names,  titles  of  companies,  and  the  like  each  business  day. 

In  the  issue  of  Postage  for  May,  1918,  F.  C.  Drew  tells 
of  an  actual  campaign  planned  and  put  into  operation  by 
a  firm  with  which  he  is  connected.  The  goods  were  ex- 
cellent, and  they  were  well  known,  the  price  was  attractive, 
and  terms  were  easy,  a  new  mailing  list  was  ready,  and 
according  to  the  client — the  manufacturer  of  a  device  for  at- 
tachment to  a  certain  type  of  portable  power  plant — it  was 
very  carefully  prepared, 

"The  campaign  was  a  fizzle,"  wrote  Mr.  Drew.  He 
adds:  "A  post-mortem  investigation  developed  that  the 
client's  mailing  list,  which  he  considered  good  and  so  rep- 
resented to  us,  was  eighty-five  per  cent  useless!  Eighty- 
five  per  cent  of  the  names  on  it  owned  and  operated  power 
plants  of  a  type  which  not  only  did  not  require  but  could 
not  use  his  device ! ' ' 

R.  R.  Shuman,  an  advertising  agent,  therefore  a  keen 
judge  of  circulation,  summed  up,  before  the  Toronto  con- 
vention of  the  Associated  Advertising  Clubs  of  the  World 
in  1914,  how  vital  the  list  is  to  any  one  intending  to  use 
direct  advertising,  in  these  words:  "A  mailing  list  is 
a  gold  mine  or  a  sink  hole.  Each  dead  name  is  a  dead 
loss,  say  of  a  dollar  a  year,  in  postage,  printed  matter, 
labor,  and  its  proportion  of  the  cost  of  keeping  the  list  in 
shape.  Each  live  name  is  a  live  asset  in  proportion  to 
the  number  of  mailings  it  receives  and  the  character  and 
wisdom  of  the  mailings." 

Harry  C.  Burdick,  in  Postage,  for  February,  1916,  was 
describing  the  all  too  frequent  practice  of  making  up  lists 
when  he  wrote : 

"In  almost  every  other  form  of  advertising  the  adver- 
tiser avails  himself  of  his  powers  of  selection  in  the  media 
to  carry  his  message  to  the  advertisee.     That  is  true,  per- 


116         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

haps,  because  there  are  so  many  media,  each  clamoring  for 
consideration  and  advancing  claims  that  command  consider- 
ation. But  direct  advertising  appears  to  be  only  out-and- 
out  circularizing.  Any  piece  of  handy  advertising  mailed 
to  any  old  gathering  of  names  is  direct  advertising ! 

"Here,  where  the  advertiser  is  able  to  discriminate  by 
selection,  he  is  content  to  advertise  promiscuously. 

"Why?  As  near  as  I  can  make  out,  the  reason  is  that 
the  importance  of  advertising  literature  as  such  has  been 
played  up — as  it  should  be — while  the  mailing  list  which 
practically  controls  the  efficacy  of  the  advertising  litera- 
ture has  not  had  any  guardian  angel  behind  it  to  boost  it 
into  the  calcium — which  is  as  it  should  not  be." 

All  the  rest  of  the  material  in  this  volume  is  useless 
unless  you  compile  a  good  list,  and  keep  that  list  good; 
the  succeeding  sections  of  this  chapter  will  try  to  show 
you  how  this  may  be  done. 

102.  The  List  Is  the  Most  Valuable  Part  of  the  Mail- 
order Houses'  Assets. — In  New  York  City  there  is  a 
cloak  and  suit  house  doing  an  annual  business,  entirely 
by  mail,  of  millions  of  dollars.  Its  only  asset,  aside  from 
merchandise  inventory  which  could  be  replaced  over  night 
at  almost  any  time,  is  its  mailing  list.  In  order  to  protect 
that  list  in  every  way  possible,  even  during  daytime  work- 
ing hours,  special  steel  trucks  have  been  built  to  contain 
the  drawers  which  hold  the  combination  stencil  and  record 
cards.  At  night  the  trucks  are  rolled  into  a  "fire-proof" 
vault  for  additional  protection. 

In  Jamestown,  New  York,  there  is  a  school  that  teaches 
by  correspondence  the  profession  of  nursing.  Every  safe- 
guard is  placed  about  its  list  of  actual  and  prospective 
students ;  there  is  not  a  single  stick  of  combustible  wood  in 
the  place.  It  is  built  of  fire-proof  materials  and  equipped 
throughout,  even  to  office  equipment,  with  fire-resisting 
furniture. 

E.  F.  Houghton  &  Company,  of  Philadelphia,  manufac- 
turers, have  a  house  organ  called  The  Houghton  Line, 
which,    according  to   their   general   manager,   has   earned 


THE  LIST  117 

them  more  than  a  half  million  dollars  in  nine  years.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  that  though  they  are  not  a  mail-order 
house  in  any  sense  of  the  word,  they  too  follow  the  lead  of 
the  firms  mentioned  in  earlier  paragraphs  and  keep  their 
mailing  list  for  The  Line  in  steel  cabinets  in  a  fire-proof 
vault.     They  value  the  list  alone  at  $150,000. 

At  the  Toronto  convention  of  the  Associated  Advertising 
Clubs,  Advertising  &  Selling  made  the  awards  for  a 
$1000  prize  contest  which  it  had  been  running  for  some 
little  time  previous.  It  is  not  only  interesting  but  in- 
structive to  note  that  the  editor  of  Advertising  &  Selling 
in  the  issue  of  July,  1914,  in  "writing  up"  the  winner  of 
the  first  prize,  R.  W.  Ashcroft,  then  advertising  manager 
of  the  Canadian  Consolidated  Rubber  Company  of  Mon- 
treal, Canada,  made  special  reference  to  the  value  of  a 
mailing  list  in  the  subhead  which  read:  "A  Two  Months' 
Campaign  That  Not  Only  Sold  the  Entire  1914  Output  of 
a  New  Million  Dollar  Automobile  Factory,  but  Also 
Provided  the  ^Manufacturer  with  a  Remarkable  Mail- 
ing List." 

103.  Poor  Lists  the  Damnation  of  Direct  Advertising. 
— An  advertiser  may  pick  the  wrong  magazine  to  adver- 
tise his  product  in,  or  put  a  street-car  card  for  an  ultra 
high-grade,  high-priced  article  on  a  car  which  runs  within 
an  East  Side  slum  zone,  or  make  any  one  of  a  dozen  similar 
mistakes  in  the  "circulation"  of  his  advertising,  and  neither 
he  nor  anj^  one  else  be  the  wiser;  in  fact,  like  the  doctors 
in  the  hoary  joke,  "they  bury  their  mistakes."  With 
direct  advertising,  however,  such  mistake  becomes  readily 
apparent.  Suppose  you  are  a  banker,  and  you  get  an  elab- 
orate booklet  advertising,  we  will  say,  barbers'  chairs,  for 
example;  the  booklet  cost,  perhaps,  50  cents.  Your  bank  is 
interested  in  the  barber-chair  manufacturer,  perhaps  lias 
stock  in  the  company.  The  chances  are  that  such  a  mistake 
as  this  would  cost  the  advertising  manager  his  job,"  unless 
he  could  prove  his  error  was  purely  accidental.  Yet  ever>' 
day  we  see  barbers'  appeals  in  bankers'  magazines,  and 
vice  versa,  sometimes  with  good  results,  one  must  admit. 


118         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

but  the  fundamental  principle  is  not  right,  nevertheless. 

The  so-called  *  *  waste ' '  in  direct  advertising  that  we  hear 
about  is  due  to  poor  lists  in  practically  100  per  cent  of  the 
cases. 

Bear  this  thought  in  mind  as  we  take  up  the  remaining 
sections  of  this  chapter. 

104.  What  Is  a  Good  List? — So  far  we  have  been  read- 
ing about  "good"  and  "poor"  lists,  but  we  have  not  yet 
defined  either;  we  probably  can,  with  a  few  examples  as 
a  guide,  make  such  a  definition. 

If  you  asked  your  doctor  "What  is  good  medicine?"  he 
would  probably  look  at  you  in  amazement.  While  the  cases 
are  not  entirely  analogous,  still  they  are  similar,  for  to  tell 
what  is  a  good  list  necessarily  means  knowing  just  what 
you  want  the  list  to  accomplish,  what  you  are  going  to 
send  out  to  the  list,  and  several  other  relevant  factors  such 
as  the  product  you  are  selling,  distribution,  competition, 
margin  of  profit,  and  so  on. 

To  make  a  concrete  illustration:  I  might  be  running  a 
very  fine,  exclusive  grocery  on  Farnam  Street  in  Omaha. 
The  very  best  and  most  exclusive  mailing  list  of  names  of 
persons  with  ample  means  to  buy  from  me,  but  located  on 
the  North  Shore  Road  of  Massachusetts,  would  certainly  be 
a  "poor"  list  for  my  purposes. 

Again,  I  might  be  the  manufacturer  of  an  electric  wash- 
ing machine.  A  list  of  names  of  the  wealthiest  farmers  of 
Colorado  would  be  worthless  to  me  unless  I  know  they  are 
located  so  that  they  can  get  electric  current  in  the  day- 
time. 

The  telephone  book  is  a  good  list  of  names;  indeed  it 
is  one  of  the  best,  but  not  every  name  it  contains  would  be 
a  logical  prospect  for  every  butcher,  baker,  and  electric- 
light  maker  in  any  city. 

R.  B.  Rope,  of  the  Larkin  Company,  mail-order  merchan- 
disers, in  the  course  of  his  remarks  at  the  Detroit  convention 
said  that  there  were  two  things  essential  in  a  good  list: 
"First,  accuracy — names  and  addresses  must  both  be  cor- 
rect to  insure  delivery  of  the  message.     Second,  fertility. 


THE  LIST  119 

It  must  cover  only  actual  prospects,  that  is,  people  who 
can  reasonably  be  expected  to  have  a  real  use  for  your 
goods. ' ' 

The  following  might  well  be  printed  in  box-car  letters  and 
kept  before  every  one  making  a  list  for  direct  advertising 
of  any  kind,  at  all  times : 

A  GOOD  LIST  IS  AN  ACCUMULATION  OF  NAMES,  ACCOMPANIED 
BY  COMPLETE  ADDRESSES,  OF  PERSONS  OR  FIRMS  WHO  RAVE 
USE  FOR  YOUR  PRODUCT  OR  SERVICE,  WHO  CAN  PROBABLY  BE  IN- 
FLUENCED BY  YOUR  .\DVERTISING  APPEAL,  AND  WHO  SHOULD 
BE   YOUR  CUSTOMERS. 

105,  What  Is  a  Complete  Address? — The  preceding  defi- 
nition calls  for  "complete  addresses."  Let  us  see  exactly 
what  is  meant  by  that. 

At  the  Indianapolis  (1920)  convention  of  the  Associated 
Advertising^:  Clubs  of  the  World,  a  speaker  brought  out  the 
fact  that  52  per  cent  of  the  mail  received  at  the  Chicago 
post  office  bore  no  street  address.  According  to  postal 
rules  and  regulations  (compare  Chapter  XX),  insufficiently 
addressed  first-class  mail  gets  "directory  service"  and  is 
delivered.  Third  class  mail  (1  cent  circulars  and  the  like 
mailed  in  that  class)  goes  into  the  discard. 

The  exact  ruling  of  the  Post  Office  Department  on  this 
point  will  be  helpful.  Section  607  of  the  Postal  Laws  and 
Regulations  reads:  "At  city-delivery  offices  where  a  city 
directory  is  available  it  shall  be  used  when  necessary  to 
ascertain  the  addresses  of  persons  to  whom  letters  are 
directed,  and  it  should  also  be  used  in  the  case  of  transient 
newspapers  and  other  matter  of  the  third  and  fourth  classes 
where  the  error  in  or  omitting  of  the  street  address  is  evi- 
dently the  result  of  ignorance  or  inadvertence;  but  when 

CIRCULARS,  PRINTED  POSTAL  CARDS  OR  OTHER  MATTER,  EXCEPT 
LETTERS,  ARRIVE  ttt  any  pOSt  offlCe  IN  LARGE  QUANTITIES, 
MAILED  APPARENTLY  BY  THE  SAME  PERSON  OR  FIRM,  AND 
FROM  WHICH  THE  STREET  ADDRESSES  HAVE  BEEN  OMITTED, 
ALL  SUCH  CIRCULARS,  ETC.,  WHICH  CAN  NOT  BE  DELIVERED 
THROUGH  BOXES  OR  BY  LETTER  CARRIERS  SHALL  BE  PLACED  IN 
THE  GENERAL  DELIVERY  TO  AWAIT  CALL," 


120         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Be  sure  that  the  street  address  appears  on  your  direct 
advertising  to  insure  its  delivery. 

If  you  are  addressing  a  large  corporation,  such  as  the 
United  States  Steel  Corporation,  the  name  of  the  individ- 
ual and  his  department  as  well  as  the  name  of  the  firm  are 
required,  and  if  a  branch  office  the  street  address  is  also 
necessary. 

If  you  want  to  reach  John  Doe  and  he  happens  to  live 
in  Chicago,  we  will  say  your  "complete  address"  would 
be: 

John  Doe, 

2110  Sherman  Boulevard, 

Chicago,  HI. 

While  if  Mr.  Doe  were  connected  with  the  International 
Harvester  Company  there  and  you  wanted  to  be  sure  of 
reaching  him  you  would  add : 

John  Doe, 

Advertising  Department, 
International  Harvester  Co., 
Chicago,  111. 

If  your  piece  is  to  be  mailed  third-class,  it  should  bear 
the  street  address  in  addition  to  the  preceding,  to  insure  its 
delivery. 

io6.  "Who  Have  Use  for  Your  Product  or  Service?" 
— To  answer  this  question  correctly  presupposes  a  careful 
anal^'sis  of  your  possible  market,  and  it  takes  time.  It 
would  be  much  easier  if  you  are  selling  wooden  legs,  for  ex- 
ample, to  take  the  list  of  members  of  the  American  Legion 
and  mail  to  them  your  literature,  but  you  would  doubtless 
encounter  a  lot  of  waste.  Cooperation  with  the  proper 
authorities  and  perhaps  judicious  publication  advertising 
would  bring  you  a  list  of  men  needing  or  having  use  for 
wooden  legs,  and  then  your  direct  advertising  would  likely 
be  successful. 

107,  "Who  Can  Probably  Be  Influenced  by  Your  Ad- 
vertising Appeal?" — This  part  of  our  definition  refers  to 


THE  LIST  121 

the  ability  of  persons  to  buy  the  product  or  service  you  will 
have  to  offer;  also  to  their  ability  to  read  and  understand 
your  message  when  you  have  done  your  best  to  put  it  into 
terms  they  can  and  should  read  and  understand.  . 

io8.  "Who  Should  Be  Your  Customers?"— Even  a  good 
product,  such  as  fur  coats  for  the  Eskimos,  may  be  a  glut 
on  the  market  in  the  tropics;  the  Eskimos,  on  the  other 
hand,  would  be  poor  prospects  for  electric  fans — for  cooling 
purposes.  With  a  stretch  of  imagination  you  might  be 
able  to  consider  that  the  fans  would  be  valuable — granted 
electric  connections — in  driving  smoke  out  of  their  igloos! 
The  importance  of  distribution  comes  in  at  this  point — 
do  you  want  the  business  of  this  particular  prospect?  As- 
suming you  can  get  it,  can  you  handle  it  efficiently  and 
properly  ? 

109.  Why  It  Often  Takes  More  Than  the  Name  of 
One  Individual  to  Make  an  Effective  Appeal  to  a  Com- 
pany.— Fig.  37,  reproduced  through  the  courtesy  of  System, 
portrays  graphically  why  it  is  sometimes  necessary  to  put 
on  the  list  more  than  one  name  with  any  one  firm  in  order 
to  make  an  effective  direct-advertising  appeal. 

Suppose  you  are  manufacturing  leather  belting.  You 
want  to  sell  the  Blank  Manufacturing  Company  which  op- 
erates several  plants.  If  you  were  going  to  conduct  your 
canvass  through  publication  advertising  you  would  prob- 
ably choose  one  business  publication  to  reach  the  general 
manager,  or  other  "Yes"  or  "No"  man;  another  to  reach 
the  general  superintendent  of  the  company's  plants;  a  third 
to  reach  the  purchasing  agent;  a  fourth  to  reach  the  man 
who  actually  used  the  belts,  perhaps.  It  is  conceivable  you 
might  also  use  class  publications  in  the  particular  tield. 
Say  the  Blank  Company  made  spices,  you  would  probably 
add  ''The  Spicy  Monthly"  or  other  trade  publication.  This 
would  mean  five  (5)  different  approaches  to  sell  the  Blank 
Company. 

A  comparison  of  the  preceding  paragraph  with  Fig.  37 
will  show  you  that  Blank's  customers,  bankers,  competitors, 
directors,  stockholders,  subsidiary  concerns,  local  trade  and 


\(MS&>mers 


SuhsicUry 
Concerns 


-  Stailloldert 


Campe/i^rsA 


Cki'-ef 


Supply 

CoLcer/rs 


Zoc.il  Jrjd/' 
OMi/  of^kcr 
Business  Mens 

OrfUKl'lJ/ionS 


Conreffft 


Where  does  tlie  Buying  Impulse  Come  Fiom? 

C^/S  cAdii  /ffd/ClfeS  J^OK^  Mp  Man  nrfio  jcfuiJIy  p/xes  f-ke  order  is  Hke/y 
/O  be  ifff/iienced  if/  ///s  dec/s/ons  /yoMcrs  in  his  camOitf side  On^au/zaf ions. 


*>«i»-«<g) 


Fig.  37. — This  chart,  shown  through  the  courtesy  of  8yste)n,  indi- 
cates how  the  man  who  actually  places  the  order  is  likely  to  be  in- 
fluenced by  others  in  his  own  as  well  as  the  outside  organization. 

122 


THE  LIST  123 

other  business  men's  organizations,  not  to  mention  personal 
acquaintances  or  supply  concerns  having  reciprocal  rela- 
tions,— all  these  might  influence  Blank's  belt  purchases. 

To  make  a  good  list  to  reach  Blank  and  many  other  firms 
in  the  same  class  by  direct  advertising,  you  w^ould  need  to 
add  as  many  names  of  individuals  as  are  likely  to  stimulate 
the  buying  impulse  for  your  belts. 

This  section  uncovers  the  weakness  of  many  direct  adver- 
tising campaigns;  for  all  too  often,  in  making  a  direct  cam- 
paign, you  merely  address,  we'll  say,  the  United  States 
Steel  Corporation  and  not  any  specific  individual  who  may 
be  deemed  the  possible  prospect,  and  expect  one  of  his  mail 
clerks  to  take  the  time  to  "Sherlock  Holmes"  your  direct 
advertisement  and  then  place  it  where  you  intended  it 
should  be  placed. 

no.  Eternal  Vigilance  the  Price  of  a  Good  List. — To 
paraphrase  an  old  adage,  ''Eternal  vigilance  is  the  price 
of  a  good  list."  After  you  get  the  name  and  address  and 
the  firm,  these  should  be  verified.  Then,  as  you  will  find 
covered  in  Section  124,  a  try-out  campaign  is  often  found 
desirable.  No  salesman  can  close  his  eyes  and  pick  100 
per  cent  of  possible  prospects  to  call  upon;  neither  can 
any  man  determine  offhand  100  per  cent  of  possible  pros- 
pects for  his  direct  advertising  to  reach.  Even  then  your 
vigilance  must  not  end,  for  you  must  "keep  the  good  list 
good,"  which  means  eternal  revision,  as  will  be  treated  of 
in  Section  124.     See  also  Fig.  66. 

III.  What  to  Do  Where  Individual  Name  Cannot  Be 
Secured. — Sometimes,  let  it  be  admitted,  you  cannot  locate 
the  right  man  or  men  to  whom  you  should  address  your 
direct  advertising  as  suggested  in  Section  105.  Call  on 
your  salesmen  to  help,  also  your  dealers,  or  other  distribu- 
tors; for  you  must  remember  that  the  more  personal  your 
direct  advertising  is,  the  more  profitable  it  will  be,  as  a 
general  rule. 

Failing  in  your  tactics  to  determine  some  phrase  or  no- 
tation which  will  help  the  $18-to-$20-a-woek  mail  sorter  in 
the  "Metropolitan  Mammoth  Store"  to  know  where  your 


124         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

booklet  on  Near-Silk  hose  is  to  go,  mark  the  envelope  for 
"Hosiery  Buyer"  or  adopt  some  similar  method  of  indicat- 
ing its  intended  destination. 

112.  Good  Lists  Not  Always  Big  Lists. — Let  us  relate 
an  actual  instance.  In  a  certain  New  England  state  there 
is  a  mail-order  concern  that  started  with  desk  space  and 
now  has  three  floors.  Originally  this  house  had  60,000 
names  on  its  mailing  list,  made  up  of  what  were  considered 
all  the  larger  concerns  east  of  the  Mississippi  but  exclud- 
ing the  far  South.  As  this  is  written,  late  in  1920,  this 
list,  originally  made  up  from  Dun's  and  street  addresses 
supplied  from  telephone  books,  has  been  gradually  pared 
down  so  that,  after  eliminating  all  of  the  unproductive 
territory,  it  now  contains  fewer  than  20,000  names,  more 
than  one-half  of  which  represents  active  customers. 

Cutting  the  list  into  a  third,  by  eliminating  two-thirds, 
enabled  that  mail-order  house  to  weather  the  high-price 
period,  conjoined  of  course  with  selling  strictly  on  a  price 
basis. 

The  best  lists  are  those  which  give  you  the  largest  num- 
ber of  possible  prospects  in  the  fewest  names,  all  other 
things  being  equal. 

113.  Sources  of  Names  of  Prospects. — After  taking  in- 
to consideration  our  list  of  customers,  the  names  on  our 
ledgers  (Fig.  38)  give  you  a  list  of  sources  of  names  of 
prospects  as  complete  as  we  have  ever  been  able  to  find. 
It  should  be  studied  with  care  and  followed  with  reverence 
in  the  preparation  of  any  list.  There  is  little  which  can 
be  added  to  this  chart,  though  one  New  York  correspond- 
ence school  developed  a  new  method  of  getting  lists  of 
prospects  which,  strange  to  say,  was  also  used  advantage- 
ously by  a  firm  of  oft'set  printers  in  Chicago,  both  for  en- 
tirely different  purposes.  Each  of  these  concerns  took 
every  issue  of  the  Saturday  Evening  Post  and  mailed  a 
special  circular  letter  to  every  advertiser  therein  which  let- 
ter specifically  referred  to  the  addressee's  advertisement  in 
the  Post. 

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126         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

for  lists  has  long  been  favored  and  still  frequently  effects 
results. 

On  certain  propositions  schools  can  be  recruited  to  fur- 
nish names,  though  such  plans  must  be  worked  out  in  each 
case  with  the  proper  school  authorities. 

Supplementing  the  "Organizations"  on  Fig.  38  as  a 
source  of  lists,  some  firms  offer  novelties  at  conventions  and 
other  gatherings  in  exchange  for  one's  name  and  address, 
and  thus  build  up  a  good  list. 

One's  own  stockholders  as  a  source  of  names  and  possible 
prospects  are  often  a  gold  mine  at  our  doorstep  which  we 
overlook.  In  the  issue  of  Printers'  Ink  MonthUj  for  June, 
1920,  J.  M.  Campbell  tells  how  such  well-known  concerns  as 
the  American  Sugar  Refining  Company,  American  Bell 
Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company,  Southern  Pacific,  Loose- 
Wiles  Biscuit  Company,  and  others  utilize  this  source ;  and 
we  understand  that  at  least  one  oleomargarine  campaign 
was  actually  made  successful  through  the  employees  and 
stockholders  of  one  Chicago  firm. 

Stock  brokers  and  others  frequently  buy  one  or  more 
shares  of  stock  in  a  concern  in  order,  as  a  stockholder,  to 
call  for  and  get  a  list  of  the  rest  of  the  stockholders  and 
then  use  these  as  a  basis  for  a  direct  advertising  campaign. 
The  writer  knows  of  quite  a  number  of  sales  of  stocks  accom- 
plished by  using  lists  built  in  this  manner. 

Similarly,  schools,  colleges,  and  universities  often  find 
their  alumni  an  excellent  source  of  names  from  which  to 
raise  funds.  Harvard  University  at  one  time  mailed  a  24- 
page  book,  9  X  12,  to  every  one  of  its  living  alumni,  over 
35,000  names. 

Big  national  advertisers  watch  closely  the  arrivals  of  buy- 
ers as  published  in  the  daily  papers.  Details  showing  how 
Swift  &  Company  do  this  will  be  found  in  Printers'  Ink 
for  February  5,  1914.  For  our  purposes  let  it  suffice  to 
say  that  every  incoming  buyer  receives  at  his  hotel  a  letter 
of  invitation  to  call  at  the  Swift  plant  and  many  of  those 
buyers  accept  and  order  Swift's  products  while  the  out- 
of-town  buyer  is  still  wondering  how  they  knew  he  was  in 
town. 


THE  LIST  127 

114.  Names  Can  Be  Bought. — As  another  source  of 
names  let  it  be  recorded  that  there  are  several  reputable 
concerns  who  make  a  business  of  compiling  lists  for  others 
to  use. 

You  will  find  that  such  concerns  have,  generally 
speaking,  two  classes  of  lists:  (1)  stock  lists — lists  they 
have  on  hand,  say,  of  all  the  candy  manufacturers,  or  all 
the  Ford  owners  in  Utah,  and  so  on;  and  (2)  built-to-order 
lists,  compiled  to  meet  your  own  specifications. 

Some  of  the  list  houses  guarantee  their  firm  mailing  lists 
as  99  per  cent  correct  and  their  lists  of  individuals  as  95 
per  cent. 

In  most  cases  the  lists,  excepting  for  those  of  automo- 
bile owners  and  the  like,  are  of  firms  only,  not  of  indi- 
viduals. 

Such  compilers  of  lists  make  no  secret  of  the  fact  that 
the  directories  are  their  principal  source  of  supply;  their 
stock  in  trade  is  their  experience  in  making  lists,  plus  an 
ability  to  sell  each  list  over  and  over  and  thus  cut  down 
the  cost  to  each  buyer. 

115.  Source  of  Supply  Where  You  Do  Not  Sell  Your 
Goods  Direct. — Suppose  you  sell  a  wringer  which  is  at- 
tached to  a  washing  machine  by  a  manufacturer  of  wash- 
ing machines.  How  are  you  going  to  get  a  list  of  the 
actual  buyers  of  your  wringers?  This  is  an  actual  case,  by 
the  way.  It  is  accomplished  by  a  simple  plan  that  has 
been  operated  quite  often  in  recent  years.  The  wringer 
manufacturer  gives  a  guarantee  with  his  wringer.  But 
to  make  that  guarantee  effective  the  ultimate  user  must 
detach  the  card  or  slip,  fill  in  and  mail  back  to  the  manu- 
facturer. 

H.  W.  Johns-Manville  Company  once  adopted  a  similar 
method  with  its  roofing.  See  Advertising  &  Selling, 
February,  1916,  for  specimen  of  form  used. 

A  steel  safe  manufacturer  at  one  time  followed  similar 
tactics  with  his  safes  sold  through  office-equipment  supply 
houses. 

116.  Effect  of  Source  Upon  Efficiency  of  List. — Atten- 


128         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

tion  should  be  called  to  the  fact  that  the  source  of  a  list  of 
names  oftentimes  operates  upon  the  efficiency  of  the  list  se- 
cured. In  Mailhag  for  September,  1920,  page  192,  Philip 
Vyle  tells  of  a  try-out  which  produced  23  per  cent  from 
the  try-out  list.  Later,  a  list  of  20,000  names  was  used  but 
only  3  per  cent  returns  were  secured.  The  reason  for  the 
disparity  was  shown  inasmuch  as  in  the  first  case  the  list 
was  "hand-picked,"  while  in  the  latter  case  the  list  was 
an  old  one  which  had  been  in  stock  for  a  long  time.  In 
view  of  a  seasonal  appeal  the  second  list  was  not  nearly  as 
good  as  the  first  one  which  had  been  compiled  right  "in 
season"  and  used  immediately. 

A  similar  experience  was  that  of  a  mail-order  jewelry 
house,  according  to  Printers'  Ink,  January  16,  1919,  where 
the  jeweler  paid  $3.75  for  a  list  of  "75  of  the  best  families 
in  a  small  town"  furnished  by  a  minister's  wife.  The 
list  actually  produced  orders  amounting  to  only  $4  at  a 
cost  of  $14.10  for  advertising. 

The  jeweler  closed  his  comment  in  this  way:  "The  more 
I  experiment  with  special  schemes  for  building  up  business, 
and  with  lists  of  people  who  are  strangers  to  the  house,  the 
more  I  become  convinced  that,  while  perhaps  some  special- 
ties may  be  sold  to  promiscuous  lists  of  people  with  some 
measure  of  success,  for  a  mail-order  merchandise  business 
like  ours  periodical  advertising  is  the  cheapest  and  most 
effective  way  of  building  up  our  mailing  list." 

While  of  course  many  lists  have  been  built  other  than  by 
periodical  advertising,  there  is  food  for  thought  in  this 
man's  statement. 

117.  How  to  Compile  the  List. — Having  decided  what 
will  make  a  good  list,  and  the  sources  from  which  you  are 
to  get  your  names,  the  next  step  is  to  compile  the  list. 
Since  in  Chapter  XIX  we  shall  take  up  the  entire  subject 
of  records,  including  the  records  of  a  list,  we  will  deal  here 
only  in  showing  "how"  to  do  it. 

The  line  of  business  you  are  in  will  necessarily  have  some 
bearing  upon  the  manner  of  compiling  the  list.  It  is  usual, 
however,  in  all  businesses,  retail  as  well  as  wholesale,  organ- 


THE  LIST  129 

izations  as  well  as  manufacturers,  to  get  the  name  and  ad- 
dress on  a  prospect  card  (see  Fig.  120)  ;  then  to  have  the 
card  record  transferred  to  some  sort  of  mechanical  device 
for  addressing  the  list,  unless  handwritten  or  typewritten 
addresses  are  to  be  used.  Much  depends,  of  course,  upon 
what  you  can  afford  to  invest  in  the  list. 

In  connection  with  the  name  you  want  all  the  data  you 
can  get  that  will  help  you  better  to  visualize  the  prospect : 
Jlan,  Woman,  Child.  Married.  Single.  Nationality. 
Age.  Weight.  Height.  Church  or  Lodge  Affiliations. 
These  are  just  a  few  suggestions  of  what  you  may  wish  to 
know  about  the  ''name"  you  are  putting  upon  your  list. 

Do  Not  Put  Your  List  on  Sheets 

The  use  of  sheets  is  old  and  out  of  date ;  it  makes  impos- 
sible the  adding  of  new  names  or  the  proper  elimination  of 
old  or  dead  names.  Cards  only  should  be  used  to  make  up  a 
mailing  list  properly,  especially  when  the  list  is  to  be  used 
over  and  over  again. 

You  will  also  have  to  decide  whether  you  are  to  file  these 
cards  alphabetically  by  the  individual  or  firm  name;  geo- 
graphically by  post  office  address;  territorially  by  county, 
street,  or  other  division;  or  perhaps  according  to  some 
special  advertising  campaign  you  are  putting  on,  as  say, 
"White  Goods  Sale,"  "Clearance  Sale,"  etc.,  or  perhaps 
chronologically  as  the  seedsmen  file  their  records. 

The  size  of  cards  most  frequently  used  is  5  x  3  inches ; 
almost  any  stationery  store  can  supply  you  with  them. 

The  cards  should  be  filed  in  a  cabinet-drawer  of  proper 
size,  which  likewise  can  be  had  from  almost  any  stationer. 
If  the  list  is  to  be  extensive,  then  subdividing  guide-cards 
will  be  needed  according  to  the  divisions  decided  upon ;  i.e., 
states,  cities,  counties,  or  if  alphabetically  and  so  on,  and 
these,  too,  can  be  easily  procured. 

Sometimes  when  a  list  is  only  to  be  used  a  few  times, 
say  three  or  four,  it  is  made  up  on  the  typewriter  and  three 
or  four  carbon  copies  made  at  the  time  the  original  mail 


130         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

ing  label  or  sticker  is  written,  thus  saving  some  money. 
This  does  not,  however,  make  a  very  neat  label  or  address 
and  is  not  to  be  recommended  where  appearance  is  an 
asset,  and  it  usually  is. 

Cards  are  available  with  tabs,  dates,  and  other  indica- 
tions which  will  permit  of  the  omission  of  a  large  part  of 
the  data  which  might  otherwise  burden  the  card  record. 

When  we  study  follow-up  methods  in  Chapter  IX  we  will 
learn  the  necessity  of  dates,  seasons,  and  similar  records 
on  our  mailing  list,  to  permit  us  to  follow  up  at  some 
certain  time  in  the  future. 

1 1 8.  Why  Lists  Need  to  Be  Subdivided.— It  will  be 
well  to  know  just  why  lists  need  to  be  subdivided  as  pre- 
viously suggested.  This  is  done  so  that  we  can  compare 
the  sales  or  inquiries  in  one  territorj^  with  those  of  another. 
For  example,  we  can  compare  what  Salesman  Smith  has 
done  in  Keokuk  with  the  work  of  Salesman  Smythe  in  Kal- 
amazoo; moreover,  the  number  of  names  sent  in  by  each 
salesman  or  by  means  of  other  list  sources  can  be  com- 
pared. If  the  list  is  of  considerable  size,  then  unless  it 
is  subdivided  it  soon  becomes  a  mere  mass  of  names  and 
we  lose  that  personal  appeal  which  is  the  basis  of  all  effec- 
tive direct  advertising,  as  will  be  discussed  in  Section 
192. 

iig.  How  the  Leading  Subdivisions  of  Business  Com- 
pile Lists. — Since  the  compiling  of  lists  in  everj^  different 
business  will  vary,  no  hard  and  fast  rule  can  be  set  down. 
Even  for  an  industry,  the  very  method  that  works  well  for 
the  Standard  Oil  Company  may  not  operate  at  all  if  tried 
by  the  Texas  Company.  People  would  be  suspicious  of  it 
if  the  same  method  were  used  by  competitors ;  they  would 
feel  there  had  been  collusion  and  that  no  real  competition 
existed.  It  will  be  well  in  a  few  sentences  to  epitomize  the 
methods  of  compiling  lists  in  leading  branches  of  distribu- 
tion: 

120.  Retailers. — We  will  take  up  the  retailer  first  be- 
cause he  stands  nearest  to  the  ultimate  user  in  the  consump- 
tion of  goods. 


THE  LIST  131 

The  first  essential  in  compiling  a  list  for  a  retailer  is  that 
he  get  clearly  in  mind  his  zone  of  trading — the  territory 
actually  served  by  him  and  his  store.  The  city  grocery  has 
been  estimated  to  cover  five  city  blocks  only.  A.  H.  Graves, 
in  System  for  November,  1918,  told  how  he  had  his  mailing 
list  so  arranged  that  he  had  nine  lists  in  one.-  By  a  system 
of  punched  holes  in  the  tops  of  the  cards — punched  over 
printed  dots  which  are  in  alignment — he  is  able  to  as- 
semble quickly  all  of  any  one  of  nine  different  subdivisions. 

The  main  sources  for  the  retailer 's  lists  are : 

Charge  customers, 
Cash  customers, 
Telephone  book, 
Social  registers. 
Church  rolls. 
Lodge  rolls, 

and  other  sources  as  indicated  on  Fig.  38. 

Retailers,  because  of  the  comparatively  restricted  terri- 
tory which  they  cover  as  a  rule,  can  use  unusual  methods  of 
getting  lists. 

Fig.  39  illustrates  a  "stunt"  used  by  a  Denver  public 
utility  to  secure  a  new  and  live  prospect  list.  This  was 
during  the  interest  in  the  Hoover  campaign  for  nomina- 
tion for  president.  It  put  out  a  so-called  "ballot,"  as 
reproduced,  offering  a  "Hoover"  suction  sweeper  as  a 
prize  for  filling  in  the  ballot  with  other  prospects'  names. 
Space  was  left  for  10  names  and  the  "voter"  sending  in 
the  list  to  which  tlie  largest  number  of  sales  was  made  won 
the  prize. 

Garver  Brothers,  the  Ohio  retailers  who  are  located  in 
a  very  small  town  and  do  a  very  large  business  (over  $500,- 
000  a  year),  have  a  mailing  list  of  nearly  15,000  names,  for 
instance.  They  have  a  paid  correspondent  in  every  school 
district  within  a  radius  of  about  twenty  miles  who  keeps 
them  informed  of  newcomers  and  departures.  From  this 
information  additions  or  corrections  are  made. 

In  Business  for  April,  1920,  will  be  found  a  very  com- 


132 


EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


plete  story  of  how  D.  W.  Robinson,  proprietor  of  a  depart- 
ment store  in  a  small  town  in  Michigan,  keeps  up  a  mailing 
list  that  brings  him  trade  from  an  area  of  fifty  miles. 
Further  comment  on  this  will  be  found  in  Section  364. 


BENEFICIAL  ELECTION  BALLOT 

The  Hoover  Party 

(At  HvrWtl  C-  Hmvw  wai  imI  nomtfialcd  al  llw  R«ritUk«n  Convcnt^OA  m  ChkAf*  w«  ar*  gOMC  to  |t«« 

pwtia*  a  clwfic*  to  dcNgMl*  THE  HOOVER  in  oar  fait  eampsivk) 

VOTE  THIS  TICKET  AND  WIN  A  HOOVER  ELECTRIC  SUCTION  SWEEPER 

HOW  TO  VOTE  THIS  TICKET  AND  WIN  A  HOOVER 

Yow  frWnd*  «U  wsBl  a  Hofwm.    Writa  Ibair  mmm—  la  Um  laft  Ii«b4  cohuns.  tear  off  and  maS  la  PuBlkitr  Dapartmant.  TV  0«n 

Caa  4  Elactrie  U«lil  C«^  Room  aot. 
F<r  Um  ftnl  Km  maiM,  trmm  wbicK  wa  maka  tha  Ur(ast  numbar  •(  aalai^  wa  wID  civa  jrov  abaofataly  fraa 

One  Hoover  Electric  Suction  Sweeper 

Tills  e««ta«t  !■  opaa  la  aiir  niMwl  a#  Daavar,  Mat  «■  amplora  «f  lliia  C— paitf. 


■  bBMtite  Lt|M  C» 


tR  ■OOTSK 


Vata  Far  THE  HOOVER 

It  CaU  AS  Iha 

Dirt  Oal  of 

Carr**'  &Ad  Ryfa 


Vata  Far  THE  HOOVER 

T¥a  laJias'  Cheka 

Bacanaa  ll  Ckati*  Without 

Raising  Any  Duvt 


VetaFar 

THE  HOOVER 

It  Maaiu 

A  Sanitary  Ho< 


mPORTANT 

Yau   Can   Sa*a   $S  an   Tima 

Fayntcnta  V  Yau  Bay  a 

HOOVER 

During  PraMnt  Campaign 


Fbona  Main  40( 
Daraenatration  i 


Fig.  39. — The  ballot  form  brought  a  Denver  firm  a  large  number 
of  names  of  new  prospects  for  an  electric  cleaner.  Shown  through 
the  courtesy  of  Electrical  Merchandising. 

Here  it  should  be  noted  that  the  Robinson  lists  were  built 
by  payinji^  five  cents  each  for  cards  giving  householders' 
names  and  addresses,  names  and  ages  of  their  children, 
whether  or  not  the  family  owns  an  automobile,  and  the  re- 
porter's own  idea  as  to  the  quality  of  merchandise  the  pros- 
pects might  buy.  From  this  Mr.  Robinson  has  divided  his 
list  into  the  following  sub-classifications : 


THE  LIST  133 

Buyers  of  fine  merchandise. 

Buyers  of  medium  merchandise. 

Buyers  of  cheap  merchandise. 

Buyers  of  large  amounts. 

Buyers  of  medium  amounts. 

Buyers  of  small  amounts. 

Buyers  from  mail-order  houses. 

Property  owners. 

Renters. 

Automobile  owners. 

Young  women. 

Girls  5  to  15  years. 

Children  1  to  5  years. 

Boys  5  to  15  years. 

Infants  1  month  to  1  year. 

The  J.  L.  Hudson  Company  of  Detroit,  one  of  the  fore- 
most of  the  department  stores  to  use  direct  advertising,  has 
built  a  very  valuable  mailing  list  through  a  unique  system. 
Its  employees  are  numbered  among  the  members  of  every 
local  fraternal  society,  lodge,  or  other  social  organization. 
These  members  make  a  note  of  the  new  members  admitted 
to  their  own  lodge  and  send  their  names  and  addresses  to 
the  company,  which  in  turn  writes  to  the  initiates  letters 
of  much  cheery  comment  with  little  of  the  commercial  in 
them.  This  method  frequently  develops  a  business  connec- 
tion for  Hudson. 

At  the  Cleveland  convention  of  the  Direct  Advertising 
Association,  Joseph  B.  IMills  of  the  Hudson  store  said :  * '  In 
my  office  three  assistants,  as  a  part  of  their  daily  task,  read 
the  newspa'pers  looking  for  a  clue  to  new  business.  Na- 
tional affairs,  State  affairs,  city  affairs — political  and  social 
— all  have  their  interesting  viewpoint  and  all  can  be  used  to 
promote  business  through  direct  advertising. 

Attention  should  be  directed  to  the  fact  that  many  manu- 
facturers make  most  excellent  use  of  lists  compiled  by  re- 
tailers to  the  mutual  advantage  of  the  manufacturer  and 
retailer.  For  example,  some  retailer  takes  on  a  line  of  steel 
filing  cabinets;  the   manufacturer  of  those  cabinets  will, 


134        EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


often  at  his  own  or  at  least  partly  at  his  own  expense,  take  a 
ist  of  prospects  furnished  by  the  retailer  and  advertise  to  it. 
A  Niagara  Falls,  New  York,  merchant  is  typical  in  the 
method  he  uses  to  get  a  live  mailing  list.  He  has  each 
salesman  keep  near  at  hand  a  pad  of  blanks  which  read  as 
f  oUows ; 

Name — '. ; 

Street 

City  

LIST 


Professional  Men 
Business  Men 


Men 


Young  Men 


Snappy  dressers 


Farmers 


Workmen 


Hard-to-fit  men 


Non-customers 


By  checking  the  various  items  on  this  list  which  apply 
to  the  prospect  waited  upon,  a  list  that  permits  of  individ- 
ualized personalized  appeals  has  been  built  up. 

The  retailer,  being  in  actual  contact  with  the  buyer,  is 
in  a  better  position  than  some  other  links  in  the  chain  of 
distribution  because  he  can  make  an  examination  of  past 
purchases  and  learn  what  the  persons  represented  by  the 
names  on  the  list  prefer  as  to  style,  economy,  durability,  ex- 
clusiveness,  and  so  on. 

Reference  to  Chapter  XXVII  will  show  what  results  re- 
tailers have  secured  from  lists  prepared  with  the  care  and 
forethought  outlined  in  this  chapter. 

Most  retailers'  lists  should  be  divided  into  two  general 
classifications:  General  and  group  lists. 

The  general  lists  are  often  merely  a  combination  of  the 
group  lists,  and  contain  the  names  of  those  to  whom  all 


THE  LIST  135 

announeement.s,  special  sales  notices,  openingfs,  and  other 
"{reneral  appeals"  are  sent,  while  the  group  lists  are  sep- 
arate groups  to  which  a  specialized  appeal  may  be  made, 
such  as: 

School  children,  Society  women, 

School  teachers,  Business  women. 

College  students.  Professional  men. 

College  teachers,  Factory  employees, 

Religious  organizations,  Farmers, 

Club  members.  Business  men, 

Citj'  or  county  employees.  Property  owners, 

and  other  such  classifications  as  may  work  out  best  for  the 
individual  retailer, 

121.  Manufacturers. — Next  in  the  chain  of  distribution, 
because  they  sell  through  canvassers,  salesmen,  and  by 
mail,  as  well  as  through  retailers  and  jobbers,  are  the  man- 
ufacturers. 

To  attempt  to  list  the  sources  of  names  for  the  manufac- 
turer would  be  merely  to  make  an  index  of  110,000,000 
people  in  this  country,  looking  at  it  from  one  angle,  because 
the  peculiarities  surrounding  each  manufacturing  business 
are  such  that  there  are  myriads  of  possible  sources  for  lists. 
There  are  more  than  a  hundred  different  directories  pub- 
lished, for  example,  ranging  from  automobile  manufactur- 
ers to  zinc  producers. 

As  with  the  retailer,  the  manufacturer  must  consider  his 
zone  of  trading,  but  he  is  not  so  dependent  upon  it  as  is 
the  retailer.  .  He  must  also  give  careful  consideration  to 
competition.  A  manufacturer  from  New  England  trying 
to  invade  California  with  a  grape  juice,  for  instance,  would 
necessarily  have  to  compete  against  local  brands. 

Freight  rates;  in  other  words,  the  transportation  prob- 
lem, suggest  a  practical  limit  to  the  manufacturer's  possible 
market.  He  must  also  consider  climatic  conditions  and  dif- 
ferences in  the  buying  habits  or  proclivities  of  the  South- 
erner as  compared  with  those  of  the  Westerner,  for  instance, 
if  he  aims  to  cover  the  country.  These  are  problems  in 
list-building  foreign  to  the  retailer  because  of  his  restricted 
territory  of  operation. 


136         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

The  main  sources  of  lists  for  the  manufacturer  are  direc- 
tories, of  course,  but  the  livest  lists  probably  come  from 
publication  advertising  of  various  kinds.  These  names  are 
secured  at  a  heavy  cost,  and  since  the  burden  of  inquiry 
has  been  shifted  upon  "the  other  fellow"  they  are,  as  a 
rule,  more  valuable  than  names  secured  from  directories 
and  from  list  houses. 

Names  of  dealers  and  consumers  contained  in  salesmen's 
reports  afford  another  source  for  the  manufacturer's  list 
which  must  be  given  close  consideration.  Their  value,  of 
course,  depends  upon  how  the  manufacturer  markets  his 
product. 

The  general  and  group  sub-classifications  also  apply  to 
the  manufacturer's  lists,  though  no  individual  classifica- 
tions can  be  given  here ;  these  would  vary  with  the  lines  of 
business  in  which  the  manufacturer  was  engaged.  For  ex- 
ample, the  manufacturer  of  fine  writing  papers  has  general 
lists  of  printers,  paper  merchants  or  jobbers,  and  other 
large  buyers  of  paper.  This  same  manufacturer  has  group 
lists  showing  names  of  large  lithographers,  printers  special- 
izing in  bond  paper  work,  insurance  companies,  and  other 
special  groups  who  are  comparatively  large  users  of  his 
products. 

This  classification  would  probably  be  useless  in  the  case 
of  even  a  product  allied  to  paper,  say  printers'  type,  for 
instance,  because  the  type  founder  would  not  be  interested 
to  any  extent  in  the  ultimate  users  of  his  product. 

122.  Jobbers. — Jobbers  are  also  called  wholesalers,  and 
in  some  fields  referred  to  as  "merchants."  The  terra  cov- 
ers supply  houses,-  merchandise  brokers,  distributors  on  a 
wholesale  scale,  and  commission  houses,  as  a  rule. 

They  take  the  products  in  largo  quantities  from  the 
manufacturer  and  frequently  repack  and  deliver  them  to 
the  retailers  in  smaller  and  "broken"  packages. 

Naturally,  therefore,  the  jobbers'  first  essential  in  a  mail- 
ing list  is  the  territory  which  they  will  cover  (for  very  few 
jobbing  houses  are  national  in  scope)  ;  and,  secondly,  the 
list  of  retailers  this  particular  wholesaler  will  serve. 


THE  LIST  137 

For  the  jobber  the  main  source  of  a  good  list  would  be 
the  list  house,  which  will  compile  for  the  wholesaler  in  the 
city  of  Minneapolis,  for  example,  a  list  of  all  retailers  nor- 
mally covered  and  served  by  the  ''twin  cities"  of  Minne- 
apolis and  St.  Paul. 

Salesmen's  reports  are  more  important  to  the  jobber  in 
the  making-  and  maintaining  of  lists  than  they  are  either  to 
manufacturers  or  retailers,  for  normally  jobbers  do  but 
little  advertising ;  in  fact,  on  account  of  the  limited  sections 
of  states,  counties,  and  cities  which  they  serve,  there  is  prac- 
tically only  one  method  of  advertising  to  advantage  and 
that  is  direct  advertising,  which  naturally  presupposes  a 
list  to  begin  with. 

Since  wholesalers  frequently  cover  several  lines  of  re- 
tailers their  lists  are  often  subdivided  into  lines  of  goods 
as  well  as  by  territories  and  States. 

Butler  Brothers  are  an  outstanding  example  of  whole- 
salers doing  business  entirely  by  mail.  They  have  only 
one  salesman  and  their  catalogue  is  called:  "Our  Drum- 
mer."    They  cover  the  entire  country,  too. 

123.  Mail-order  Houses. — This  section  has  reference  to 
all  classes  of  houses  doing  business  entirely  or  partly  by 
mail.  The  firm  referred  to  in  the  last  paragraph  of  the 
preceding  section  is  really  a  mail-order  house  selling  to  deal- 
ers only. 

Other  classifications  of  mail-order  houses  are: 

1.  Mail  order  direct  to  consumer,  general  products. 

2.  Mail  order  direct  to  consumer,  specialties. 

3.  Manufacturers  to  jobbers,  by  mail. 

4.  Manufacturers  to  dealers  (retailers),  by  mail. 

5.  Wholesaler  or  jobber  to  consumer,  by  mail. 

6.  Retailer  to  consumer  by  mail. 

7.  Manufacturer  or  other  j^roducer  to  consumer,  by  mail. 

To  no  other  business  is  the  list  so  vital  as  to  the  mail- 
order business,  as  we  saw  in  Section  102, 

^lail-order  houses  are  likely  to  use  all  the  different 
sources  of  names  as  shown  on  Fig.  38,  especially  from  ad- 


138        EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

vertising  in  publications,  inquiries  bought  from  non-com- 
petitors, directories,  lists  furnished  by  present  customers, 
telephone  books  (especially  of  the  specialty  seller),  clip- 
pings, list  houses,  and  tax  records. 

Mail-order  houses  frequently  classify  their  lists  to  enable 
them  to  make  an  appeal  to  certain  forms  of  prospects  at 
different  times,  such  as  automobile  owners,  garden  makers, 
camera  users,  and  so  on. 

124.  Maintenance  of  Good  Lists. — Getting  a  good  list, 
whether  it  be  for  the  wholesaler,  the  retailer,  or  the  manu- 
facturer, or  whether  of  mail-order,  or  any  other  classifica- 
tion, is  only  the  start  of  the  battle — keeping  it  good,  as  sug- 
gested in  Section  110,  is  the  next  big  job. 

In  preceding  sections  of  this  chapter  we  have  repeatedly 
commented  upon  the  necessity  of  revising  and  changing  the 
lists.  The  publication  "list"  is  revised  automaticall.v — 
the  Post  Office  department  where  the  publication  has 
second-class  mailing  privileges  sees  to  that,  in  fact — but  in 
direct  advertising  the  user  must  correct,  and  keep  correct, 
his  own  lists. 

Every  department  of  the  business  and  every  employee 
from  salesman  to  shipper  should  cooperate  with  the  person 
in  charge  of  lists  to  see  that  that  person  is  advised 
of  all  changes  in  address,  changes  in  firm  names,  and  so 
on. 

Depending  upon  the  line  of  business — bankers  change 
much  less  frequently  than  barbers,  for  example — the  list 
should  be  corrected  periodically  by  rechecking  it  against 
some  reliable  source  of  information,  such  as  a  new  diroe- 
tory,  a  new  list  of  automobile  owners,  tax  lists,  and  so  on. 

Checking  firm  names  against  those  of  the  mercantile 
agency  books,  quarterly,  is  the  plan  frequently  used  by 
large  mailers.  This  may  be  supplemented  by  cheeking 
against  the  latest  semi-annual  telephone  books  for  street  ad- 
dresses. 

If  the  mailings  are  going  out  under  third-class  (1  cent) 
postage,  which  does  not  insure  return  of  the  unclaimed  or 
undeliverable  mail  automatically,  it  is  often  good  policy  to 


THE  LIST  139 

send  out  a  first-class  (2  cent)  mailing  about  once  a  year 
and  ascertain  definitely. 

New  names  will  of  course  have  to  be  added  from  time  to 
time,  from  salesmen's  reports,  rating  books,  and  other  such 
sources. 

The  more  frequently  your  lists  are  revised,  the  less  waste 
there  will  be  in  your  use  of  direct  advertising.  The  more 
often  you  use  the  lists,  the  oftener  they  will  need  revising, 
because  of  the  proportionately  large  sum  you  are  investing 
in  them. 

Twice  a  year  for  correcting  lists  may  be  conceded  as  good 
practice  in  live  direct-advertising  departments.  Fig.  40 
will  be  found  quite  helpful  in  showing  methods  of  correct- 
ing lists. 

Checking  j'our  list  against  that  supplied  from  some  other 
source  and  adjusting  the  discrepancies  is  an  excellent 
method  of  correcting  lists. 

One  manufacturer's  method  of  checking  up  his  house- 
organ  list  will  be  helpful  in  this  connection.  "When  a  name 
is  added  to  the  list  four  envelopes  are  made  out  and  filed 
away.  In  the  fourth  envelope  there  is  placed  a  return 
postal  card  which  must  be  sent  back  if  the  addressee  of  the 
envelope  wishes  to  continue  receiving  the  house  organ. 
When  that  return  card  is  received  four  more  envelopes  are 
addressed,  another  return  card  placed  in  the  fourth  en- 
velope, and  so  on  throughout  the  year,  permitting  the  man- 
ufacturer to  check  his  list  automatically  three  times  a  year. 
Personally  the  writer  cannot  enthusiastically  endorse  this 
idea,  for  he  never  could  see  the  logic  of  requiring  the  pros- 
pect to  continually  "beg"  in  order  to  receive  advertising 
material  which  might  sell  the  prospect  some  of  the  adver- 
tiser's goods. 

124A.  Short-cutting  the  Handling  of  Big  Lists. — It  is 
all  too  easy  to  invest  time  and  money  in  filing  cabinets  and 
methods  of  indexing,  and  cross-indexing  lists,  and  then  to 
spare  your  effort  in  making  the  list  pay  dividends. 
One  of  the  staft'  writers  of  Printers'  Ink  for  July  8,  1915, 
told  in  detail  how  just  such  a  complicated  system  came 


Fig.  40. — A  handy  check-up  table  shows  the  various  methods 
of  correcting  prospects'  and  customers'  lists  and  indicates  how 
to  keep  these  lists  up  to  date.  Courtesy  of  Addressograph 
Company. 

140 


THE  LIST  141 

to  grief  and  how  by  reclassifying  the  list  vocationally  a 
large  sura  in  salaries  was  saved. 

The  National  Cash  Register  Company  master  list,  when 
totaling  1,500,000  names,  was  divided  into  72  divisions.  The 
use  of  red,  blue  and  white  electric  lights,  connected  with 
the  addressing  machine,  together  with  a  number  of  differ- 
ent shaped  and  designed  tabs,  enables  the  company  to  pick 
out  the  prospects  automatically  in  any  one  of  the  three  lines 
(red  denotes  a  user,  blue  denotes  a  user  who  should  have 
more  equipment,  and  white  a  prospect)  in  18  different  lines 
of  business,  or  in  any  one  of  the  18  different  sales  districts. 

Armour  &  Company  operate  on  a  different  plan.  They, 
for  example,  take  the  figure  "2"  to  represent  owners  of 
pineapple  plantations;  "13"  to  represent  an  orange 
grower,  and  so  on.  Then  after  the  envelopes  are  addressed 
the  girls  pick  out  those  marked  "2"  and  insert  in  those 
envelopes  only  literature  which  appeal  to  the  pineapple 
grower.  The  **13"  addresses  get  literature  of  interest  to 
orange  growers  and  so  on. 

To  learn  how  to  enlist  the  services  of  the  United  States 
Post  Office  department  in  correcting  lists,  see  Section  380. 

"Dead  wood"  is  quite  likely  to  impede  your  lists  despite 
your  best  efforts ;  this  should  be  looked  for  and  removed  as 
often  as  possible.  If  you  sell  through  salesmen,  have  them 
check  over  your  lists  occasionally  and  report  how  many 
"babes  and  superannuated,  cripples  and  criminals,"  to  say 
nothing  of  curiosity  seekers,  are  imprinted  upon  them'. 

Watch  for  duplicate  requests  from  other  members  of  the 
same  business  or  social  family,  and  prune  your  list  accord- 
ingly. Of  course  if  the  items  you  send  are  of  such  value 
that  you  can  afford  to  multiply  your  list,  or  for  any  other 
desirable  reason,  well  and  good:  then  disregard  this  advice. 

125.  Decreasing  Returns  Often  Predicate  "Dead 
Wood"  in  the  List.— W.  G.  Clifford  in  "Building  Your 
Business  by  ^lail"  tells  an  interesting  story  of  a  business 
which  produced  40  per  cent  returns  the  first  year,  22  per 
cent  the  second,  and  which  the  fourth  year  had  dropped 
to  a  scant  7  per  cent. 


142        EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

A  thousand  names  were  selected  at  random  and  a  very- 
careful  check-up  was  made,  resulting  in  this  report: 

410  people  had  changed  addresses  from  one  to  four  times; 
261  had  moved  to  parts  unknown; 
7  had  died; 
1  had  gone  to  jail; 
83  had  bought  a  competing  article; 
124  had  already  bought  one  of  the  articles  which  the  firm  was 
trying  to  sell — 

or  a  total  of  886  persons  out  of  a  thousand  names  were 
worthless — almost  90  per  cent  of  the  mailing  list  was  no 
good.     Is  it  any  wonder  that  returns  decreased? 

Buckley,  Dement  &  Company,  a  Chicago  list  house,  in 
their  own  house  organ  recently  referred  to  a  case  where  a 
list  of  100,000  dealers  deteriorated  14  per  cent  in  six 
months;  and  counting  the  new  prospects  which  had  come 
into  the  field  in  the  same  period,  the  list  was  subjected  to  29 
per  cent  change  in  the  six-months'  period. 

Using  such  a  list  even  on  the  correct  twice-a-year  basis 
would  mean  material  decrease  in  results. 

126.  Classification  the  Key  to  Personalization. — We 
have  repeatedly  pointed  out  that  one  of  the  strong  points 
of  direct  advertising  is  its  personal  appeal.  This  personal 
appeal  can  only  be  inserted  where  the  classification  is  prop- 
erly made  and  properly  used. 

Writing  an  elderly  maiden  lady  about  a  special  sale  of 
men 's  blue  denim  overalls  is  but  a  slightly  exaggerated  case 
of  what  happens  when  the  list  is  not  properly  classified. 

Naturally  classifications  will  vary  with  different  busi- 
nesses; we  have  already  suggested  several  classifications  in 
Sections  120  to  123.  A  simple  method  of  noting  these 
classifications  is  indicated  in  Section.  120.  There  is  also 
the  colored  card  method;  the  use  of  red  for  lawyers,  blue 
for  women,  white  for  children,  and  so  on ;  as  well  as  the  use 
of  signal  clips  of  various  kinds  both  upon  the  card-index 
records  and  upon  the  addressing-machine  plates,  as  will  be 
set  forth  in  Chapter  XVIII. 


THE  LIST  143 

Next  to  personalizing  an  advertising  piece  by  talking 
about  the  man  is  to  talk  about  his  community,  its  crops, 
its  advantages  and  so  on. 

Part  Five  of  this  work  suggests  several  classifications 
which  may  well  be  used  on  many  lists. 

One  of  the  large  separator  companies  divides  its  list  into 
three  classifications: 

1.  Non-users  of  separators. 

2.  Users  of  competing  machines. 

3.  Users  of  the  company's  machines  grown  old  and  out  of  date. 

127.  Classification  of  Officials. — There  is  also  the  plan 
of  classifying  your  list  according  to  officials.  Below  are 
listed  a  classification  of  20  leading  officials: 

1.  President. 

2.  General  manager. 

3.  Secretary. 

4.  Treasurer. 

5.  Sales  manager. 

6.  Factory  manager. 

7.  Advertising  manager.  ^ 

8.  Engineer — of  many  kinds. 

9.  Sales  correspondent. 

10.  Credit  and  collection  clerk. 

11.  Cashier. 

12.  Chief  accountant,  or  auditor. 

13.  Cost  accountant. 

14.  Purchasing  agent. 

15.  Shipping  clerk. 

16.  Filing  clerk. 

17.  Mailing  clerk. 

18.  Statistician. 

19.  Comptroller. 

20.  Traffic  manager. 

Of  course  this  list  might  be  expanded  indefinitely,  but  these 
titles  will  be  suggestive. 

128.  Close  Analysis  and  Best  Results  Analogous. — Just 
as  Printers'  Ink  (April  22,  1920,  page  122)  so  well  says: 


144        EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

''Experience  is  showing  that  best  results  in  direct  advertis- 
ing are  secured  by  specializing,  the  appeal,  approximating 
that  which  would  be  made  in  the  case  of  a  personal  letter 
written  to  an  individual  with  knowledge  of  the  conditions. 
A  direct  campaign  on  automobile  trucks  with  which  we 
are  familiar  brought  quite  unusual  returns  through  follow- 
ing this  idea.  The  prospective  mailing  list  was  classified 
as  to  lines  of  business:  and  the  booklet  or  catalogue,  by  a 
change  of  one  line  on  the  cover  and  two  pictures  on  the 
inside  of  the  book,  became  a  message  specially  directed  to 
coal  dealers,  furniture  movers,  contractors,  or  whatever 
was  the  specific  business  of  the  prospect  being  appealed  to." 
Classification  is  the  key  to  the  successful  use  of  a  good 
mailing  list  well  kept. 

Questions  for  Class  Work  or  for  Review  Purposes 

1.  Explain  the  difference  between  the  lists  used  in  publication 
advertising  and  in  direct  advertising. 

2.  Define  a  good  list. 

3.  Take  some  business  with  which  you  are  familiar  and  list  as 
many  sources  of  names  as  possible. 

4.  Classiff'  this  list  as  you  Avould  in  selling  prospects  by  mail; 
through  salesmen. 

5.  Why  is  the  maintenance  of  a  good  list  almost  as  necessary 
as  the  building  of  one? 

6.  Tell  the  number  of  ways  of  checking  a  list. 

7.  How  often  would  you  check  a  list  used  monthly? 

8.  Describe  a  simple  system  of  handling  a  list  of  names  if  you 
were  to  use  one  for  some  business  with  which  you  are  familiar. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  RETURNS 

Whatever  is  printed  is  intended  to  serve  a  definite  purpose,  and 
the  degree  in  which  it  does  this  determines  its  efficiency. — Henry 
Lewis  Johnson. 

129.  The  Physical  Form  Which  Interests  All. — We 
may  have  our  varying  opinions  as  to  which  physical  form 
of  direct  advertising  should  he  used ;  we  may  disagree  as 
to  the  particular  purpose  for  which  it  is  prepared ;  we  may 
make  use  of  different  lists  and  each  of  us  may  be  right ;  but 
on  the  subject  of  returns  or  results  all  minds  agree  in  the 
main.  , 

The  one  reason  for  direct  advertising,  or  for  that  matter 
any  other  form  of  advertising,  is  to  accomplish  certain 
results. 

At  the  outset  let  it  be  admitted  that  returns  or  results  are 
sometimes  intangible ;  when  they  are,  naturally  opinion  and 
judgment  still  hold  sway.  In  the  case  of  mail-order  adver- 
tising or  advertising  with  a  mail-order  appeal,  however,  it 
is  possible  to  know  definitely  whether  there  are  returns. 

Returns  is  the  word  commonly  used  to  denote  return 
cards,  letters,  inquiries,  and  similar  physical  forms  which 
are  sent  to  the  advertiser  by  the  advertisee ;  while  results, 
broadly  speaking,  is  the  word  used  when  intangibilities  are 
dealt  in,  as  when  a  comparison  of  one  year's  business  is 
shown  with  another  year's  business  in  tons,  dollars-and- 
cents,  or  some  other  common  denominator. 

130.  What  is  Meant  by  "Good"  Returns  or  Good 
Results? — To  answer  this  question  is  on  a  par  with  answer- 
ing the  query:  "Do  blondes  or  brunettes  make  the  best 
wives?";  or  "How  many  people  do  you  think  ought  to 

145 


146         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

read  our  advertisement  if  we  put  it  in  the  Gazette  f  Un- 
less I  know  what  your  predilection  is  in  the  choice  of  femi- 
nine complexion  in  the  first  case,  or  unless  I  have  more  than 
a  hazy  idea  of  what  size  of  advertisement,  how  often  it 
appears,  the  offer  it  entails,  and  the  circulation  of  the 
Gazette,  I  shall  not  be  able  to  answer  your  query. 

This  is  no  attempt  to  be  facetious  in  order  to  dodge  the 
issue.  The  author  has  attended  dozens  of  conventions 
where  some  beginner  in  the  use  of  direct  advertising  would 
get  up  and  in  all  earnestness  ask :  *  *  What  returns  ought  I 
to  expect  from  a  circular  letter?" 

Not  less  than  three  weeks  ago,  as  this  is  written,  this  very 
question  was  propounded  at  an  international  convention  of 
lirect-advertising  specialists.  Knowing  nothing  about  the 
business  of  the  writer  of  the  letter,  the  list  to  be  used,  the 
method  of  mailing,  the  aim  to  be  sought,  or  any  of  those 
elements,  not  to  mention  many  others,  every  one  of  which 
affects  the  returns,  or  results,  it  was,  and  is,  manifestly 
impossible  to  lay  down  any  hard  and  fast  rules  as  to  results. 

To  say  that  the  returns  should  justify  the  expense  may 
■seem  like  begging  the  question,  yet  the  query  can  only  thus 
be  truthfully  answered. 

Let  us  take  as  a  typical  case  an  actual  one.  A  young 
man  in  handling  direct,  advertising  for  a  large  manufac- 
turer got  an  idea  that  a  certain  book  ought  to  sell  by  mail. 
He  had  a  very  good  list  of  500  names.  He  was  going  to 
sell  that  list  a  $3.50  book  by  mail.  His  profit  was  to  be 
$1.16  per  book.     He  talked  it  over  in  this  way : 

Cost  of  letterheads,   at  least $5.00 

postage  at  2  cents 10.00 

multigraphing     4.95 

filling  in  inclosure  and  mailing 7.50 

inclosure,  say  5.00 

Total,  roughly   $32.45 

To  secure  a  profit  of  $1.16  per  book,  this  man  would  have 
to  obtain  orders  for  about  28  books,  or  .056  of  the  entire 


THE  RETURNS  147 

list.  When  it  was  figured  out  in  that  way  he  decided  not 
to  embark  upon  the  sea  of  mail  salesmanship. 

The  estimate  did  not  take  into  consideration  any  possible 
loss  through  the  mails,  or  failure  on  the  part  of  some  one  to 
pay  for  a  book  if  offered  on  approval,  nor  did  it  include  any 
"overhead"  for  the  manager's  time,  or  other  such  expense. 

The  best  we  can  do  is  to  judge  the  future  by  the  past — 
to  take  some  typical  instances  and  find  out  what  the  returns 
were.  Part  Five  treats  exclusively  of  returns  or  results, 
and  details  of  how  they  were  secured;  therefore  in  this 
chapter  we  shall  only  cover  the  broad  general  subject  of 
returns,  or  results. 

131.  Returns  Vary  Greatly  with  Offer  Made. — It  stands 
to  reason  that  if  you  offer  a  free  book  in  a  letter,  you  will 
necessarily  get  more  returns  (answers)  than  if  you  asked 
the  recipient  to  pledge  himself  to  see  a  salesman  or  to  place 
even  a  conditional  order. 

This  difference  in  the  offer  frequently  accounts  for  re- 
turns of  possibly  40  per  cent  from  one  letter,  perhaps  3 
per  cent  from  another,  both  apparently  equally  good  in 
almost  every  way  except  for  the  "bait"  off'ered. 

Now  this  section  is  not  decrying  the  offering  of  a  "bait" 
or  use  of  a  "decoy";  sometimes  that  is  the  thing  to  do, 
but  the  point  to  be  borne  in  mind  is  that  you  can  not  play 
"ring  around  the  rosy"  with  a  prospect  forever;  eventually 
you  must  "get  down  to  business"  and  that  means  selling 
the  prospect  your  product  or  service. 

132.  Absence  of  Returns  May  Indicate  Success  in 
Appeal. — Sometimes  the  very  absence  of  returns,  or 
"come-backs,"  as  some  call  them,  may  indicate  that  the 
results  are  excellent.  There  is  no  earthly  use  in  getting  a 
pile  of  "come-backs"  if  all  you  aim  to  accomplish  is  to 
smooth  the  way  for  your  salesman  to  call,  or  to  get  the  in- 
quirer to  drop  into  your  dealer's  and  buy  some  of  your 
goods.  Too  often  in  a  drive  to  get  returns  the  selling 
appeal  is  weakened.  We  become  so  eager  to  make  the  pros- 
pect come  back  and  ask  for,  say,  our  "Blue  Beauty  Book" 
that  we  overlook  entirely  that  what  we  want  him  or  her  to 


148         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

do  is  to  get  it  clearly  in  mind  that  "Blue  Beauty"  pots, 
kettles,  and  pans  are  the  very  best  granite  ware  on  the 
market,  can  be  had  at  almost  every  department  store  (if 
we  cannot  mention  names),  and  the  best  thing  for  the  pros- 
pect to  do  is  to  purchase  them. 

While  the  preceding  paragraph,  of  course,  has  reference 
specifically  to  a  letter  in  answer  to  an  inquiry,  a  similar  con- 
dition often  arises  in  all  other  forms  of  direct  advertising. 

We  emphasize  this  before  taking  up  some  typical  and 
actual  returns  and  results  so  that  the  reader  will  not  get  the 
idea  that  because  we  treat  of  this  physical  form  early  in  the 
book  we  think  every  piece  should  be  prepared  to  get  "re- 
turns," adding  that,  of  course,  every  piece  of  direct  ad- 
vertising MUST  BE  prepared  TO  GET  CERTAIN  EESULTS.  Re- 
sults, not  returns — there  is  the  difference ! 

The  results  j'ou  wish  have  a  great  deal  to  do' in  deciding 
on  what  physical  form  you  shall  use,  a  subject  we  shall  find 
adequately  covered  in  Chapter  VIII. 

133.  Many  Inquiries  May  Mean  Few  Sales. — It  is  a 
matter  of  record  that  a  silverware  campaign  which  offered 
a  small  premium  for  answers  brouglit  47  per  cent  replies, 
but  actually  only  1  per  cent  of  those  replies  were  turned 
into  sales. 

Straight  selling  talk  on  motor-boats  pulled  9  per  cent 
replies,  but  these  resulted  in  4  per  cent  sales ;  28  per  cent 
of  all  inquirers  confessed  that  curiosity  prompted  tlieir 
reply ;  tliese  produced  but  2  per  cent  of  the  total  sales,  while 
the  remaining  72  per  cent  made  98  per  cent  of  all  the  pur- 
chases. 

An  adding-macliine  company  with  a  mailing  of  a  two- 
page  letter,  inclosing  a  return  card  and  offering  a  free 
"service  bulletin"  on  "Tax  Assessing  and  Collecting"  sent 
to  a  carefully  classified  list  of  those  likely  to  be  interested 
in  this  subject,  made  a  double  offer  on  the  return  card, 
first  offering,  of  course,  the  "free"  booklet.  Next  the 
company  asked  for  an  O.K.  to  a  sentence  that  would  per- 
mit the  adding-machine  company's  representative  "when  in 
that  vicinity"  to  call  with  a  machine  for  demonstration 


THE  RETURNS  149 

purposes.  The  point  is  that  43  per  cent  of  those  returning 
the  card  O.K.  'd  it,  thus  giving  permission  for  the  salesman 
to  call. 

These  instances  show  that  numerous  people  will  write  for 
a  * '  free ' '  booklet,  or  premium,  yet  will  not  buy  goods. 

At  the  Detroit  convention  of  the  Direct  Mail  Advertis- 
ing Association  in  1920  the  vice-president  of  a  firm  selling 
entirely  by  mail,  and  which  secured  all  of  its  inquiries  by 
publication  advertising,  said  that  in  seven  years  his  firm 
had  secured  nearly  1,000,000  inquiries  but  to  date  had  only 
succeeded  in  selling  a  little  more  than  82,000  of  them.  This 
statement  is  no  criticism  of  the  efficacy  of  direct  advertis- 
ing, nor  of  this  firm's  methods,  but  is  cited  here  to 
prove  our  statement  that  many  inquiries  may  produce  few 
sales,  at  the  same  time  to  hold  before  the  reader  the  ne- 
cessity of  first  learning  whether  inquiries  or  sales  are  to  be 
the  method  of  judging  the  success  or  failure  of  the 
campaign. 

At  the  same  convention  the  advertising  manager  of  a  firm 
selling  farmers  admitted  that  its  whole  aim  was  to  secure 
a  large  volume  of  inquiries,  inasmuch  as  whether  or  not 
every  one  inquiring  bought  this  firm's  product  such  returns 
enabled  the  manufacturer  to  "make  himself  solid"  with  the 
dealers  to  whom  the  inquiries  were  referred. 

Charles  L.  Benjamin,  before  the  St.  Louis  convention  of 
the  Associated  Advertising  Clubs,  clearly  pointed  out  the 
fallacy  of  judging  any  piece  of  advertising  by  the  number 
of  inquiries  it  produces  when  he  said:  "Do  not  make  the 
mistake  of  supposing — as  so  many  advertisers  do — that  the 
effect  of  advertising  can  be  measured  by  the  number  of  in- 
quiries immediately  produced.  Inquiries  come  only  from 
those  who  are  at  the  moment  interested  in  the  article  adver- 
tised, but  these  constitute  only  a  small  proportion  of  the 
persons  on  whose  minds  your  advertising  has  made  an  im- 
pression and  who  weeks,  months,  even  years  later,  may 
respond  to  that  impression." 

Strange  and  even  paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  it  is  the 
personal  opinion  of  the  writer  that  in  a  great  many  cases — 


150        EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

not  in  all,  and  certainly  not  in  mail-order  selling — the  suc- 
cess of  a  direct-advertising  piece  may  be  judged  rather  by 
lack  of  inquiries  than  by  the  receipt  of  many.  When  you 
have  a  product  selling  through  dealers,  for  example,  what 
you  want  the  person  to  do  is  not  necessarily  to  inquire,  but 
to  buy.  The  receipt  of  many  inquiries  may  actually  prove 
that  your  proposition  was  not  clearly  and  thoroughly  out- 
lined in  your  advertising. 

Collating  the  experiences  of  several,  the  author  in  Mail- 
hag,  October,  1918,  page  156,  found  this  rule  to  hold,  as 
general :  * '  Inquiries  or  direct  returns  increase  in  value 
just  as  the  intangibility  of  the  thing  offered  for  sale  in- 
creases. In  other  words,  if  you  are  offering  something 
INTANGIBLE  you  must  placc  more  and  more  stress  upon  the 
inquiries — for  it  is  only  after  the  contact  that  you  will  have 
a  chance  to  demonstrate  your  intangible  proposition  to 
your  prospect,  and  without  demonstration  you  will  have 
no  sales." 

134.  Some  General  Data  on  Returns. — Frequently  you 
will  find  that  the  returns,  or  results  as  the  case  may  be, 
are  in  line  with  a  Northwestern  leather  clothing  manufac- 
turer who  planned  a  three-part  direct  campaign  aimed  at 
25,000  dealers.  It  is  a  matter  of  record  on  file  with  the 
author  that  the  third  part  of  this  campaign  was  never  com- 
pleted for  the  reason  that  the  results  from  the  first  two 
pieces  were  of  such  huge  proportions  that  the  firm  direct- 
ing the  campaign  did  not  feel  it  advisable  to  secure  any 
more  business  at  that  time. 

The  largest  manufacturers  in  the  world  of  a  comfit  vend- 
ing machine  found  for  the  year  1919  that  46  per  cent  of 
their  total  business  came  from  leads — inquiries  and  "tips" 
of  possible  buyers,  that  is — which  they  had  sent  to  tlieir  field 
salesmen.  Of  this  46  per  cent  they  further  found  that 
27  per  cent  of  it  came  from  direct-advertising  mailings, 
"homely  broadsides  with  lots  of  black  and  red  ink  there- 
on," as  their  advertising  manager  explained  at  a  recent 
neeting.  Estimating  this  direct-advertising  result  on 
a  basis  of  their  entire  business,  12  per  cent  of  it — from  the 


THE  RETURNS  151 

initial  inquiry  to  the  final  sale — came  from  direct  adver- 
tising. 

E.  St.  Elmo  Lewis,  formerly  with  the  Burroughs  Adding 
Machine  Company,  made  this  statement  at  the  Philadelphia 
Direct  Advertising  Convention:  "For  every  dollar  that 
was  spent  in  the  last  five  years  of  which  I  have  any  record, 
the  Burroughs  Adding  Machine  Company  got  nearly  ten 
dollars  of  traceable  results." 

A  New  York  City  firm  of  engineers  and  constructors 
which  uses  several  forms  of  advertising,  including  direct 
mail  once  a  month,  compared  the  results  thus:  "The 
nature  of  our  service  is  such  that  we  hardly  expect  and  do 
not  receive  direct  returns  from  magazine  or  trade-paper 
advertising.  On  the  other  hand,  our  direct  advertising  has 
been  very  productive  in  direct  returns." 

In  New  England  there  is  a  laundry  which  started  in  a 
small  building  of  two  rooms.  The  first  advertising  its  pro- 
prietors put  out  was  a  mailing  folder.  They  sent  this  out 
to  families  in  their  neighborhood.  As  their  business  grew 
they  found  it  necessary  to  move  into  the  more  spacious 
quarters  of  a  larger  building,  but  they  continued  to  use 
direct  advertising,  sending  their  pieces  to  neighborhood 
after  neighborhood.  When  they  had  obtained  from  their 
advertising  a  sufficient  number  of  customers  in  one  neigh- 
borhood to  warrant  the  sending  of  a  team  they  would  add 
names  from  the  streets  next  to  those,  always  branching  out 
and  keeping  pace  with  the  business  by  increasing  the  num- 
ber of  their  teams.  This  laundry  to-day  is  the  largest  and 
best  in  one  of  New  England's  big  cities  and  is  now  housed 
in  a  modern  brick  structure.  Its  owners  never  used  any 
other  kind  of  advertising  until  they  moved  into  their  new 
building  when  they  began  to  use  newspapers  because  they 
had  customers  in  all  parts  of  the  city.  This  instance  shows, 
again,  the  interdependence  of  all  forms  of  advertising. 

A  firm  of  Chicago  tobacco  manufacturers  secured  over 
5,000  dealers  in  a  two-weeks'  (fourteen  days)  direct-adver- 
tising campaign. 

In  ten  years  one  life  insurance  company  using  direct 


152        EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

advertising  entirely  to  complete  its  sales  built  up  a  business 
which  engaged  7,956  persons  for  a  total  of  $14,199,284. 
Selling  insurance  by  mail  is  perhaps  one  of  the  hardest 
tasks  of  all. 

135.  Plan  of  Attack  Influences  Returns. — While  the 
subject  of  the  Plan  will  not  be  discussed  at  length  until  we 
reach  Chapter  VIII,  it  should  be  remarked  at  this  point 
that  the  plan  of  attack  frequently  influences  the  volume  of 
inquiries.  Sherwin  Cody  records  in  "How  to  Deal  with 
Human  Nature  in  Business"  that  a  catalogue  sent  broad- 
cast to  the  trade,  for  example,  is  usualij^  treated  with  com- 
parative indifference.  He  tells  of  sending  5,000  booklet 
circulars  to  old  customers  and  getting  only  six  orders  of 
one  dollar  each.  He  took  the  same  booklet-circular  and 
with  a  strong  personal  letter  sent  it  to  1,000  more  of  the 
same  class  of  names  and  got  one  hundred  orders. 

Many  people  prefer  to  mail  a  card  rather  than  "go  to  a 
dealer. ' ' 

Whether  or  not  a  return  card,  order  blank,  or  other  "first- 
aid-to-the- would-be-inquirer"  should  accompany  the  piece, 
is  another  matter  for  consideration.  This  will  be  taken  up 
in  later  chapters  when  we  plan  out  a  piece ;  at  this  point 
we  merely  want  to  stress  returns  and  results  and  show  that 
all  of  them  are  comparative. 

RETURNS  FROM  SEVERAL  TYPICAL 
PHYSICAL  FORMS 

136.  In  Section  134  we  showed  some  of  the  general  results 
from  using  several  of  the  different  physical  forms  of  direct 
advertising  but  without  singling  out  any  particular  form  in 
the  returns  analysis.  In  this  and  succeeding  sections  we 
shall  take  up  a  few  of  the  typical  returns  from  several  of 
the  various  physical  forms  described  in  Chapter  III,  though 
to  quote  E.  W.  Simons,  of  the  James  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, Fort  Atkinson,  Wisconsin,  it  must  again  be  admitted 
that:  "Regardless  of  the  form  of  advertising  used,  the 
real  purpose  is  the  creation  of  a  state  of  mind  favorable  to 
the  article  advertised  and  to  secure  definite  action  in  as 


THE  RETURNS  153 

high  percentage  of  cases  as  may  be  possible.  In  most  prop- 
ositions, the  number  of  replies  received  or  the  number  of 
orders  constitutes  but  a  very  small  part  of  the  real  results 
and  of  the  real  value  of  the  advertising."  This  statement 
reaffirms  that  of  Mr.  Benjamin  in  Section  133. 

137.  Returns  from  Personal  Letters. — A  battery  manu- 
facturer for  the  year  1919  found  that  14  per  cent  of  all  in- 
quiries answered  with  a  personal  letter  brought  back 
orders,  ** which,"  to  quote  him,  "were  accompanied  by  cash 
or  request  to  ship  C.  O.  D.  This  percentage  does  not  in- 
clude orders  received  through  dealers  or  jobbers." 

Sherwin  Cody,  an  experienced  salesman-by-mail,  is 
authority  for  the  statement  in  the  book  previously  referred 
to  that  "letters  are  at  best  far  weaker  than  is  personal 
canvassing."  He  adds  that  if  calling  on  customers  in  per- 
son will  get  you  75  per  cent  orders,  "writing  letters  should 
get  about  7  per  cent."  He  also  supplements  this  with  the 
statement  that  while  ten  personal  calls  will  give  you  a  good 
"line"  on  any  proposition,  he  finds  from  his  experience 
that  it  usually  takes  from  500  to  1,000  mail  calls  at  any  one 
time  to  make  the  results  observable. 

Comparatively  few  personal  letters  are  used  in  direct  ad- 
vertising: except  to  answer  inquiries  produced  by  other 
direct  advertising  or  some  form  of  publicity. 

138.  Returns  from  Form  or  "Circular"  Letters. — In 
"Direct  by  Mail  Advertising,"  by  II.  P.  Elliott,  we  find 
this  rule:  "If  your  circular  (form  letter)  is  well  written 
and  your  proposition  has  merit  you  will  get  about  one  per 
cent  returns,  or  from  a  thousand  circulars  you  should  get 
ten  replies,  showing  that  ten  people  are  willing  to  talk  to 
your  salesman." 

We  question  whether  this  rule  may  be  accepted  generally 
without  reservations.  The  proposition,  tlie  list,  the  plan 
of  attack,  and  many  other  factors  will  serve  to  increase  or 
decrease  returns  and  the  inclusion  of  a  return  card  or 
other  form  of  "come-back"  will  almost  invariably  increase 
returns. 

Hugh  Chalmers  once  told  how  he  sent  out  1,000  form 


154         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

letters,  even  using  the  one-cent  stamp,  and  got  back  nearly 
900  replies,  or  90  per  cent  returns.  The  secret  lay  in  the 
fact  that  this  letter  asked  for  prices  on  the  goods  handled 
by  the  person  addressed. 

A  form  letter  inclosing  an  order  blank  and  return  (un- 
stamped) envelope,  mailed  to  a  list  of  5,000  druggists,  pro- 
duced $7,000  worth  of  business  in  21  days. 

A  strictly  mail-order  house  selling  a  product  which  is  on 
sale  locally  in  practically  every  city  where  it  circularizes 
with  form  letters  reports  that  it  does  business  on  the  basis 
of  14  of  1  per  cent  orders,  and  adds:  "We  find  this  very 
satisfactory  and  could  do  business  on  a  basis  of  %  of  1  per 
cent  orders." 

A  firm  of  machinery  builders  which  sends  out  form  let- 
ters regularly  to  a  list  of  about  1200  and  invariably  in- 
closes a  return  card  says  these  letters  ''usually  average 
2  per  cent  returns. ' ' 

Yet  a  fire-fighting  appliance  maker  got  60  per  cent  re- 
turns from  a  letter  sent  to  editors  asking  for  a  list  of  pos- 
sible agents  for  his  device.  On  a  lot  of  6770  letters  to 
firms  in  the  coal-mining  industry  the  same  individual  got 
422  replies,  or  6  per  cent  as  against  180  replies  (10  per 
cent)  from  1789  letters  to  the  chemical  industry. 

An  insurance  agent  seeking  to  line  up  more  agents  when 
trying  for  inquiries  only,  with  a  series  of  3  letters,  pro- 
duced 10  per  cent  inquiries  from  the  first  letter,  8  per  cent 
from  the  second,  and  slightly  in  excess  of  8  per  cent  from 
the  third. 

From  a  list  of  department  stores  a  silverware  firm  got  6 
per  cent  returns,  5  per  cent  of  which  were  accompanied 
with  orders  and  at  a  selling  cost  of  .034,  while  the  same 
company  with  another  form  letter  sent  to  jewelers,  who 
seemingly  should  be  better  customers,  produced  only  2  per 
cent  orders  at  a  selling  cost  of  .07.  The  variation,  an  ex- 
amination of  the  letters  showed,  was  probably  largely  due 
to  better  selling  copy  in  the  first  letter. 

The  editor  of  Printers'  Ink,  in  the  issue  of  May  11,  1916, 
page  12,  in  answer  to  the  direct  inquiry  as  to  how  large  a 


THE  RETURNS  155 

percentage  of  returns  one  should  expect  from  form  letters, 
said  in  part:  "A  letter  which  oilers  something  for  noth- 
ing will  pull  a  large  percentage  of  replies.  If  that  letter 
be  skillfully  written  on  handsome  stationery,  and  be  accom- 
panied by  a  stamped  return  card  on  which  the  addressee 
is  to  sign  his  name  to  obtain  'absolutely  free  and  without 
any  obligation  whatever  a  handsome  book,  bound  in  full 
morocco,' — perhaps  there  may  be  75  per  cent  returns. 
But  if  you  ask  for  the  immediate  remittance  of  two  dollars, 
this  being  the  regular  price  of  a  piece  of  merchandise,  you 
will  have  to  write  very  skillfully,  indeed,  to  pull  two  per 
cent  returns." 

In  this  comment  the  editor  emphasized  the  fact  that  much 
would  depend  upon  the  character  of  the  list.  Let  us  also 
quote  from  the  comment  this  summation:  "So  we  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  any  one  who  lays  down  as  a  general 
proposition  a  definite  percentage  of  returns  to  be  expected 
from  circular  matter,  without  regard  to  the  proposition, 
the  letter,  or  the  list  of  names  addressed,  is  treading  on  very 
unsafe  ground." 

While  the  same  authority  in  the  issue  of  March  22,  1917, 
page  118,  in  reply  to  the  exact  question  reiterated:  "Re- 
turns from  a  circular  letter  depend  entirely  on  the  *live- 
ness'  of  the  list,  the  proposition  advertised,  and  the  manner 
in  which  the  proposition  is  presented." 

The  editor  told  of  one  form  letter  sent  out  under  first- 
class  postage  with  a  self-addressed  "Yes"  and  "No" 
card  inclosed  which  produced  as  liigh  as  82  per  cent  returns. 
In  this  case  a  1  cent  stamp  was  tipped  on  the  upper  left- 
hand  corner  of  the  letterliead  and  the  opening  para^jraph  re- 
ferred to  the  stamp  and  told  why  it  was  there.  Tlie  recip- 
ient's name  had  been  filled  in  in  advance  on  the  return  card 
so  tliat  all  that  was  required  of  the  addressee  was  to  remove 
the  little  green  stamp,  put  it  on  whichever  return  card  he 
wished  to  return  and  mail  that  card.  More  than  that,  re- 
turns were  still  furtlier  stimulated  by  publicity  in  publica- 
tions which  aroused  curiosity  and  interest  and  paved  the 
way  for  the  mailing. 


156         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

The  editor  added:  "When  a  remittance  of  from  one  to 
five  dollars  is  required  to  be  sent  in  advance  for  some  article 
such  as  a  book,  from  1  to  3  per  cent  would  be  considered  a 
fair  return  from  a  good  'live'  list.  This  figure  can  be  in- 
creased to  5  to  6  per  cent  if  no  cash  is  required  in  advance 
and  the  article  is  sent  subject  to  examination  and  return 
if  not  satisfactory."  Compare  the  preceding  paragraph 
with  Section  130  and  see  how  well  that  young  man's  analy- 
sis tied  up  with  the  experience  of  others. 

139.  Returns  from  Four-page  Sales  Letterheads. — The 
LaSalle  Better  Letter  Trophy  was  awarded  at  the  Detroit 
convention  of  the  Direct  Mail  Advertising  Association  in 
October,  1920,  for  a  letter  sent  out  on  a  four-page  illus- 
trated sales  letterhead  to  45,912  people  which  produced 
844  inquiries  and  from  $75,000  to  $100,000  worth  of  directly 
traceable  business. 

With  a  four-page  sales  letterhead  sent  to  72,200  grocery 
and  delicatessen  stores  a  grape-juice  company  produced 
5850  returns,  or  8  per  cent,  with  orders  for  2325  cases  of 
its  product  and  yet  the  company  was  not  satisfied  with 
this  return ! 

V.  C.  Dwyer,  in  Mailhag,  for  March,  1920,  page  323,  tells 
the  story  of  a  four-page  letter  which  brought  1000  per  cent 
increase  in  sales.  This  was  unusual  inasmuch  as  it  was  a 
regular  form  letter,  four  pages  in  length  and  each  page  pro- 
duced on  a  letterhead  illustrated  with  different  designs. 
The  attendant  circumstances  were  such  as  to  make  this  re- 
turn unusual,  to  say  the  least,  but  the  accomplishment  is 
worth  noting. 

William  A.  Herse}^,  of  Robert  H.  IngersoU  &  Brother, 
New  York,  before  the  Cleveland  convention  of  the  Direct 
Mail  Advertising  Association  said:  "I  have  tried  all  sorts 
of  circulars,  broadsides,  small  envelope  stuffers,  mailing 
folders,  four-page  letterheads,  and  four-page  circulars  with 
a  separate  letter,  and  I  stick  pretty  closely  to  the  8V2  xll 
single  page,  or  sometimes  I  use  the  11x17  (four-page  let- 
terhead) with  a  special  letter,  and  sometimes  I  use  it  with  a 
letter  on  the  first  page." 


THE  RETURNS  157 

A  varnish  company  using  two-page  illustrated  letterheads 
reports  this:  "We  find  that  our  illustrated  letterheads 
with  the  inclosures  which  go  with  thera  have  produced  many 
actual  orders  for  dealers." 

140.  Results  from  Booklets. — It  is  not  often  that  any 
direct  results  can  be  traced  to  a  booklet,  yet  the  manufac- 
turers of  an  office  specialty  device  (cited  with  the  under- 
standing that  their  name  should  not  be  used)  gave  the  re- 
sults of  a  booklet  which  we  shall  call  "Judging  by  Results," 
or  "The  Choice  of  a  Check  Protector,"  though  it  was  not  a 
check  protector,  but  a  much  higher  priced  article.  They 
sent  out  approximately  450,000  copies  of  this  booklet  and 
received  32,000  direct  inquiries,  placed  more  than  4000 
trials,  and  sold  almost  2000  machines.  Their  machines 
probably  average  $300  each  and  this  meant  $600,000  worth 
of  business  from  one  booklet !  It  was  followed  up  by  sales- 
men, of  course. 

141.  Returns  from  Catalogues. — It  is,  on  the  other  hand, 
quite  easy  to  tell  that  excellent  results  come  from  prop- 
erly prepared  catalogues,  for  all  you  have  to  do  is  to  refer 
to  the  business  of  general  mail-order  houses.  For  the  year 
1919,  the  American  Wholesale  Corporation,  of  Baltimore, 
according  to  Direct  Advertising,  Vol.  VII,  No.  2,  page  2, 
sold  $35,345,711.91  worth  of  merchandise  entirely  through 
a  mail-order  catalogue  for  which  the  selling  cost  was  only 
1%  per  cent. 

The  United  Drug  Company,  as  told  in  an  article  appear- 
ing in  Postage  for  IMareh,  1916,  page  42,  incorporated  as  a 
part  of  the  cover  of  its  premium  catalogue  a  coupon  valued 
at  $1,  which  enabled  this  company  to  check  directly  the 
attention  given  to  their  catalogue. 

A.  A.  Vantine  &  Company,  at  the  end  of  each  season 
cheek  up  every  page  of  their  mail-order  catalogue  to  see 
just  how  much  profit  or  loss  is  made  on  each  item  quoted. 
"Here  are  cuff  links,  occupying  a  space  of  forty-four  square 
inches,"  writes  John  Allen  Murpliy  in  describing  this 
checking  system  in  Printers'  Ink,  December  19,  1918,  page 
58;  "this  space  brought  in  thirty-two  dollars  during  the 


158         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

year.  In  order  to  be  profitable,  let  us  say  each  square  foot 
must  produce  ten  dollars'  worth  of  business.  Results  would 
thus  show  that  the  links  had  abundantly  justified  them- 
selves. ' ' 

142.  Returns  from  Mailing  Cards  and  Circulars. — A 
simple  slip,  3i/^  x  Sy^  inches,  printed  in  one  color,  both 
sides,  produced  over  $4000  worth  of  business  in  two  days  for 
a  mid-western  truck  company.  This  offered  a  special  price 
on  chains  and  sprockets,  one  side  played  up  the  "extraordi- 
nary offer, ' '  the  other  side  was  an  order  blank. 

•  A  simple  mailing  card,  regular  in  fold,  offering  factory 
equipment  pulled  over  $7,000  worth  of  business  in  direct 
results,  "not  to  mention  the  assistance  it  has  been  in  our 
mail  and  individual  sales  work,"  says  the  company. 

Manufacturers  of  an  electric  vacuum  cleaner  reprinted 
their  trade  paper  inserts  and  mailed  them  as  mailing  circu- 
lars to  18,000  prospects,  adding  a  return  card.  "Each 
mailing,"  they  write,  "we  received  over  700  cards  in  re- 
ply." This  would  be  a  percentage  of  .038,  but 
by  this  close  follow-up  month  after  month  they  report  they 
were  able  to  increase  their  list  of  active  dealers  120  per  cent 
in  12  months. 

A  simple  motto  card  produced  one  of  the  most  unusual 
results  we  know  of.  Besides  the  motto  it  contained  the 
firm's  trade  mark  and  address,  the  latter  rather  small;  it 
was  printed  on  cover  stock,  and  made  no  suggestion  of 
seeking  a  reply;  yet  a  mailing  of  4,000  of  thom  produced 
200  requests  for  "more  of  those  cards." 

143.  Envelope  Inclosure  Returns. — It  is  almost  impossi- 
ble, too,  to  trace  returns  from  envelope  inclosures,  thougli 
one  manufacturer  recently  sliowed  us  a  series  wliicli  pro- 
duced in  excess  of  $12,000  worth  of  traceable  business. 
A  sewing-machine  company  finding  itself  loaded  up  with 
a  lot  of  bottled  oil  that  had  been  in  stock  for  months  and 
which  apparently  would  stay  there  for  months  more,  but 
which  did  not  permit  of  sufficient  profit  to  advertise  it,  got 
up  a  little  envelope  inclosure  which  was  mailed  witli  the 
firm's  bills,  statements,  and  letters.     Tliis  moved  the  old  oil. 


THE  RETURNS  159 

Seasonable  goods  are  readily  sold  and  their  sales  traced. 
Retailers  are  large  users  of  envelope  inclosures,  of  their 
own  manufacture  and  of  those  sent  them  by  manufacturers. 

144.  Returns  from  Folders. — A  steel  tank  company  sent 
out  5477  "stunt"  folders — one  making  an  ingenious  or  trick 
fold — and  produced  115  inquiries  which  brought  in 
$6,200.50  worth  of  traceable  business,  total  cost  $285.12. 

A  paint  company  had  an  interesting  experience  with 
two  different  folders.  Both  went  to  the  same  list  of  2,000 
names  and  both  offered  free  window  displays.  One  pro- 
duced 215  replies,  or  .108  per  cent,  while  the  other  brought 
510  replies,  or  .255  per  cent.  The  difference  is  easily  ac- 
counted for:  the  latter  was  printed  in  full  colors  while 
the  former  had  only  one  color  and  black. 

A  refrigerator  company  reports,  after  a  careful  statis- 
tical study,  that  it  secures  %o  of  1  per  cent  returns  from  its 
folders,  but  gets  back  $5.50  for  every  $1  invested. 

145.  Returns  from  Blotters. — Blotters  are  frequently 
pure  general  publicity,  but  one  saw  company  mailed  out 
5194  blotters,  accompanying  them  with  a  multigraphed 
slip  of  about  the  same  size  and  a  return  postal  card.  The 
concern  got  254  replies  for  a  free  window  display,  indicat- 
ing .049  per  cent  returns. 

146.  When  Returns  Are  Desired,  the  More  Nearly  You 
Approach  the  Personal  Letter  the  Better. — If  replies  or 
returns  are  desired  from  direct  advertising,  let  it  be  said 
here  that  the  more  nearly  you  approach  the  appeal  of  a 
personal  letter  the  more  likelihood  you  may  have  of  secur- 
ing returns,  though  results  may  be  better  through  the  use  of 
some  other  form.  For  example,  in  building  up  good  will 
through  confidence  the  house  organ  stands  supreme  because 
consistent  and  persistent,  but  the  house  organ  is  not  as  a 
rule  a  prolific  inquiry  producer. 

Citations  of  statistics  as  to  results  and  returns  from 
various  physical  forms  will  be  found  also  in  Sections  7,  20, 
35,  36,  47,  61,  74,  75,  84,  92,  102,  148,  186,  187,  192,  197,  202, 
209,  218,  221,  222.  233,  234,  247,  255,  263,  269,  290,  292,  299, 
301,  317,  328,  333,  354  and  all  of  Part  Five. 


160         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

•   Questions  tor  Class  Work  or  for  Review  Purposes 

1.  Explain  in  your  own  words  what  you  understand  by  "re- 
turns" and  "results." 

2.  Name  as  many  different  things  as  you  can  think  of  which 
might  influence  results  or  returns. 

3.  If  I  were  sending  out  1,000  form  letters  offering  a  copy  of 
this  book  for  $3.50  without  money  in  advance,  what  percentage 
of  returns  should  I  expect? 

4.  If  the  money  were  required  in  advance,  would  returns  de- 
crease; if  so,  why? 

5.  Tell  how  any  firm  within  the  ken  of  your  experience  has 
successfully  used  direct  advertising;  does  the  firm  know  the  exact 
returns  ? 

6.  Assuming  that  answers,  regardless  of  proposition  made,  are 
what  I  look  for,  what  physical  form  would  you  recommend  ?  Dis- 
regard other  angles,  of  course. 

7.  Blank  Manufacturing  Company  has  a  circular  or  fonn  letter 
ready  to  mail.     How  many  replies  should  the  company  expect? 

8.  If  you  cannot  give  a  definite  answer  to  the  preceding  ques- 
tion, tell  why. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  OUTSIDE 
For  the  apparel  oft  proclaims  the  man. — Shakespeare. 

147.  Two  Kinds  of  "Outside"  Appeals. — In  this  chapter 
we  take  up  the  remaining  "physical"  appeal  which  is  in- 
herent in  a  piece  of  direct  advertising.  We  have  reference 
to  that  part  of  the  piece  which  the  addressee  first  sees — 
the  envelope  or  wrapper,  for  instance ;  and  also  to  that  part 
which  is  the  outside  of  the  piece  after  he  has  passed  the 
outer  guard  known  as  envelope  or  wrapper. 

Bear  in  mind  that  we  discuss  here  the  outside  solely  from 
the  PHYSICAL  angle  and  from  its  physical  appeal  to  the 
prospect,  as  a  tangible;  i.e.,  physical,  thing.  The  matter 
of  planning  the  outside  from  a  mechanical  angle  will  be 
taken  up  in  Chapter  XI,  while  the  writing  of  the  material 
to  be  used  on  the  outside  is  taken  up  in  Chapter  X.  We 
are  led  to  devote  an  entirely  separate  chapter  to  the  sub- 
ject of  "the  outside"  for,  to  repeat  the  great  dramatist's 
quotation  at  the  head  of  this  chapter:  "The  apparel  oft 
proclaims  the  man,"  and  yet  few,  comparatively  very  few, 
users  of  direct  advertising  utilize  the  appeal  of  the  outside 
envelope,  or  the  wrapper  to  best  advantage.  Practically 
all  admit  the  value  of  the  outside  of  the  booklet  or  catalogue 
or  other  piece  in  itself,  but  they  do  not  carry  that  idea 
through  to  the  mailing  or  delivery  container. 

148.  Three  Classes  of  Envelopes. — There  are  three  main 
classes  of  envelopes:  (1)  Standard  Commercial;  (2)  Gov- 
ernment (bearing  the  necessary  governmental  postage 
stamp)  ;  and  (3)  Novel,  which  includes  the  colored  as  well 
as  those  of  special  designs. 

Appendix  B  lists  the  sizes  of  the  first  two  mentioned 
and  should  be  referred  to  in  ordering  envelopes. 

Envelopes  in  the  three  divisions  referred  to  are  also  made 

IGl 


162         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

in  the  "outlook"  or  "window"  style.  Commercial  en- 
velopes may  be  had  in  various  styles  (some  patented)  of 
folding  in  ends,  sides,  flaps,  and  the  like.  Such  an  en- 
velope, when  delivered  by  mail,  may  lead  an  addressee  to 
believe  that  it  is  sealed.  He  may  conclude,  therefore,  that 
"it  is  a,  first-class  piece  of  mail  matter,  and  that  the  1  cent 
(third  class)  stamp  which  appears  upon  it  was  probably 
placed  there  in  error. 

Fig.  41  illustrates  the  "outlook"  or  "window"  envelope 
itself  with  the  letter  therein,  as  well  as  the  letter  (printed) 
and  inclosure  which  go  with  it,"  as  used  by  the  Blackburn 
Brokerage  Company,  Kansas  City,  Missouri.  This  par- 
ticular letter  and  "outside"  are  pulling  better  than  43  per 
cent  returns,  according  to  a  letter  on  file  with  the  author 
from  N.  B.  Blackburn  of  the  firm.  It  is  proof  positive 
that  the  "outlook"  envelope  may  be  used  for  general  mail- 
ings at  a  big  saving  and  yet  not  impair  the  effectiveness  of 
the  campaign.  Some  direct  advertisers  were  fearful  that 
the  use  of  the  "outlook"  envelope  used  almost  exclusively 
for  statements  at  first  would  make  a  poor  impression  upon 
prospects.  Of  course  in  this  campaign  the  prospects  were 
housewives  and  not  familiar  with  business  custom.  This 
particular  envelope  is  of  the  "penny-saver"  variety;  that 
is,  it  can  be  sealed,  there  being  a  flap  at  the  end  which  per- 
mits of  opening  the  envelope  for  postal  inspection. 

There  are  instances  on  record  where  increased  returns 
have  been  brought  by  use  of  these  patented,  "appearing- 
as-if -sealed"  envelopes  as  compared  with  the  old-style  flap- 
tucked-in  envelopes  (see  Sections  153  and  353). 

149.  The  Outside  a  Means  of  "Dodging"  the  Waste- 
basket. — The  main  function  of  the  outside,  considered 
from  the  angle  of  the  envelope  or  wrapper  and  the  cover, 
or  the  book,  or  other  piece,  is  to  help  the  piece  dodge 
the  waste-basket,  to  lengthen  its  life,  to  increase  interest 
in  what  is  on  the  inside. 

By  the  outside  you  can  appeal  not  only  to  the  sense  of 
sight  but  also  of  touch,  and  the  double  appeal  will  often 
save  your  piece  from  failing  of  attention. 


THE  OUTSIDE 


163 


SAVE-O 


FOR  WASHING 
WITHOUT  RUBBING 


SAVE-O  PRODUCTS  CORPOBATUN 


SAVI<4>  My*  "^CooJ  mominc.  Mt%  United  Suin  Ha«  I  am  lo  kelp  you  witti  tU» 
««ck  •  %rwtun«  I  M«)  tlvM  MMUeto— SOAP.  WATLR  Ana  YOU— 
wv  tour  make  •  laam. 


SAVLO  «r*  "Htn'  raO  m  SAVL-0  bacMM  I  mv«  roa  tunc  Ubor  m4  tk»  tkuhm. 
TKe  hf<t  week  you  wiO  notice  how  much  lim«  and  Ubor  1  mv«.  Next 
■week  you  wdl  •••  how  bnghl  and  tlemn  I  nuke  the  clothe*.  Youf  n*tfK> 
bon  will  MS  youf  clothM  early  on  lh«  lute,  vnowy  white,  and  will  wan) 
my  SAVLO  mtcn  fo  eomt  aikd  work  for  iheia 

SAVB^     My*     "After  I  have  been  with  you  a  month,  you  wdl  get  out  youi  peacJ  aod 
ftgurv  up  and  6nd  that  you  mv*  more  aoap  than  SAVXO  coata 
"In  auL  eitht  or  nine  month*   you   will   notK*   how   I   have   eaved   yq«t 
rtolhee     Of  coune.  dothca  will  wear  out  but  I  hv«  the  wcw  and  tear  ol 
ihaRUa 

SAVLO  «y«  "If  you  UM  a  wmahnt  machme.  1  can  be  a  big  hdp  TW«  I  lavt  m  Ian* 
and  labor  and  in  mrreni  ti  your  machiitc  »  electnc 

1  am  only  a  few  nwnthe  eld  but  I  have  made  many  thovaand  mtw 
frinda  ew:h  month  One  day  when  I  wa«  only  rwo  w^"«  old.  ihey  looll 
me  to  a  CHEMIST  He  took  me  all  apart  and  analyzed  every  brt  of  RM 
and  he  mt4  am  hannleea  to  dotbaa  and  banda  aod  to  cvcrytluat  CToyl 
DIRT  """^ 

SAVftO  mj9  '>4ow  mneh  do  I  vem>  !>>€  km  %reek  I  work  for  nothA«.  for  dM  flmmt- 
ure  of  settinc  acquainted  Aitar  that  I  coet  1^  c«nU  fpr  12  ^e  of  Ji-^ 
cent*  per  w»«itng  —, 

-An<il««««nU-  FiP    L<ue«rOro    Oo 


■ssoua 

YOUR  RETAIL  DEAIIR 

SAVEO  SUDS  SAVE  THE  DUDS" 


FfiEE  SAMPLE  -a*  i..  -. 

I  •III  U  ••uIm  •■  Ik.  bw.  w 


lUCKBURN  BROKCAME  COMPANY 

MO  DUAWtM  ST. 
KANS*s  ci-rr,  dUSSOlWi 


Fig.  41. — Some  direct  advertisers  have  not  taken 
advantage  of  the  labor-  and  time  saving  possibilities 
of  the  "window"  envelope.     See  text  for  details. 

It  is  admitted  that  not  100  per  cent  of  all  direct  advertis- 
ing is  read,  saved,  filed,  and  kept  at  hand  for  reference. 


164         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Life  is  a  battle,  business  a  competition ;  likewise  adver- 
tising is  a  survival  of  the  fittest  and  that  which  has  an 
attractively  appealing  outside  is  most  likely  to  be  consid- 
ered fittest. 

150.  The  Outside  May  Gain  Attention  Without  Mak- 
ing an  Advertising  Appeal. — Let  the  reader  note  that  up 
to  this  point  we  have  not  argued  for  the  use  of  the  outside 
for  "advertising"  purposes,  strictly  speaking.  Hitherto 
we  have  been  considering  the  use  of  the  outside  solely  as 
a  means  to  an  end — lengthening  the  life  of  the  piece,  in- 
creasing its  attention  value.  This  may  be  done  by  an  ad- 
vertising appeal,  but  the  use  of  such  an  appeal  may  defeat 
the  very  purpose  we  are  trying  to  accomplish. 

To  elucidate :  there  comes  to  my  desk  a  finely  engraved 
business  card  reading: 

J.  Hamilton  Elvins. 

I  do  not  know  Mr.  Elvins,  I  do  not  know  his  business; 
yet  I  am  impressed  by  the  card.  I  suspect  he  wants  to  sell 
me  life  insurance,  for  insurance  companies  have  so  often 
used  this  form  of  approach  (with  the  result  that  America 
is  well  insured).  I  send  the  messenger  back  and  tell  her 
to  find  out  Mr.  Elvins'  business.  She  fails;  he  wants  to 
see  me  on  personal  business,  its  nature  may  not  even  be 
insurance  and  he  may  tell  her  that.  In  the  end  I  probably 
see  him.  He  may  have  been  sent  by  a  personal  friend 
and  is  simply  making  a  friendly  call,  or  he  may  want  to 
sell  me  something.  In  any  event,  once  past  the  outer 
guard  that  watches  over  the  portals  of  most  business  of- 
fices of  any  size  (similar  to  the  office  boy  or  girl,  or 
mechanical  letter-opener  in  the  case  of  direct-advertising 
material),  whether  J.  Hamilton  Elvins  accomplishes  the 
purpose  he  starts  out  to  accomplish  depends  entirely  upon 
J.  Hamilton's  ability  as  a  salesman.  The  engraved  card 
and  the  dignified  and  respectful  manner  get  him  by  the 
one  whose  business  it  is  to  "flag"  callers.  Just  so  the 
"outside"  of  the  mailing  piece,  or  auto-contained  direct 
advertisement,   must  try  to   get  by  the   mail   clerk,    and 


THE  OUTSIDE  165 

others  who  would  keep  it  from  delivering  its  message 
where  it  will  be  properly  received. 

Had  Mr.  Elvins'  card  borne  a  further  statement:  "Life 
Insurance,"  or  "Investments";  in  short,  had  it  carried 
an  advertisement,  he  would  have  probably  advanced  no 
farther  than  the  outer  door. 

In  similar  fashion  it  is  sometimes  excellent  strateijy  not 
to  reveal  on  "the  outside"  the  exact  object  of  your  direct- 
advertisement  visit,  though  it  may  be  well  worth  while 
to  stage  the  visit  as  elaborately  or  even  as  simply  as  you 
can;  it  is  likely  you  may  want  to  play  upon  certain  char- 
acteristic hopes  and  fears;  or  appeal  to  prides  or  preju- 
dices. 

If  whatever  is  within  the  "outside"  is  something  that 
is  an  old  and  appreciated  friend,  it  may  be  well  to  use  the 
outside  to  notify  the  addressee  that  within  he  will  find 
"your  old  friend."  An  example:  One  house  organ  that 
reaches  the  writer's  desk  is  sent  out  by  a  Texas  public  util- 
ity company.  On  the  outside,  that  is,  the  envelope,  there 
is  usually  a  little  cartoon.  One  such  was  an  illustration  of 
Father  Time  and  a  young  man  standing  nearby  giving 
this  advice:  "Give  him  the  best  you  have."  One  imme- 
diately begins  to  look  within   for  the  best. 

My  first  acquaintance  with  another  house  organ  was 
obtained  through  the  medium  of  an  envelope  (the  out- 
side) shown  in  Fig.  42  A.  The  quaint  "bird,"  or  whatever 
it  is,  carrying  the  banner  with  the  mystic  "GAB — Better 'n 
Ever,"  aroused  my  curiosity  without  my  considering  the 
appeal  of  the  words.  The  fact  that  the  envelope  was  ad- 
dressed for  the  writer's  attention  enabled  this  piece  of 
one-cent  mailing  matter  to  get  by  the  clerk  who  sorts  in- 
coming mail.  The  outside  as  illu^rated  induced  me  to 
ook  within  the  envelope,  and  the  outside  of  the  house  organ 
which  was  inclosed  was  so  interesting  that  I  opened  it 
up  and  got  its  message  almost  at  a  glance.  Now  I  look 
for  that  house  organ  every  month ! 

Compare  this  actual  happening  with  another.  For  sev- 
eral weeks  I  have  been  receiving  regularly  about  once  a 


166 


EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


month,  I  think,  a  full  first-class  mail  envelope;  on  its 
upper  left-hand  corner  I  read  **  mid-continent  Mer- 
cury." No  city  address  is  indicated,  but  I  have  learned 
it  by  now.    I  open  it,  yes;  because  it  is  a  two-cent  en- 


Fig.  42. — This  line  engraving  illustrates  several  methods  of 
dressing  up  the  appeal  of  the  "outside."  A.  Arousing  curiosity. 
B.  Utilizing  the  outside  to  enlist  aid  of  post  olTice  department  in 
keeping  mailing  list  up-to  date.  C.  Using  the  back  of  the  en- 
velope for  an  advertising  appeal.  D.  Note  tlie  peculiar-shaped 
flap  and  how  it  is  used  here.  E.  Using  a  die  cut  opening  to  tie  up 
the  inside  with  the  outside  appeal.     See  text  for  details. 

velope,  but  I  know  just  as  well  what  it  is  going  to  contain 
as  if  I  had  sent  it  to  myself:  it  will  be  a  reproduction  of 
two  of  a  certain  newspaper's  full-page  advertisements  in 


THE  OUTSIDE  .      167 

one  of  the  advertising  publications.  No  letter,  no  special 
comment  accompanies  it;  nothing  to  create  interest  inside 
or  out.  The  money  spent  for  it  is  almost,  not  quite, 
wasted,  for  at  least  I  know  now  the  name  and  address  of 
the  newspaper,  but  whether  it  appears  morning  or  after- 
noon, or  "how  many  more  lines  of  'chauffeur  wanted' 
advertising  it  prints  than  its  nearest  competitor"  I  do 
not  know ! 

If  those  two  reprinted  advertisements,  for  example,  had 
been  reprinted  on  the  same  sheet  of  paper,  with  a  curios- 
ity-arousing cover  thereon,  or  had  the  reproduction  been 
upon  a  grade'of  paper  which  would  make  me  want  to  feel 
it,  I  might  have  read  them. 

While  the  writer  is  against  any  form  of  advertising  that 
is  in  bad  taste  he  would  not  wholly  subscribe  to  the  state- 
ment set  forth  in  ** Making  the  Letter  Pay,"  by  A.  Peter 
Stowe,  in  which  he  says,  in  part:  "Many  envelopes  may 
be  seen,  in  common  use,  almost  covered,  both  front  and 
back,  with  advertising.  This  use  of  the  envelope  is  of 
questionable  value  and  taste.  Tlie  advertising  may  be  of 
some  value,  but  that  value  is  small  at  best  and  the  loss  of 
dignity  and  caste  more  than  overbalances  it." 

There  is  a  golden  mean,  and  while  Fig.  42  A  may  not 
be  entirely  dignified  I  surely  felt  no  distaste  toward  the 
firm  by  reason  of  receiving  it ;  rather,  I  mentally  list  that 
concern  pow  with  a  half  dozen  other  live  engravers  in  as 
many  cities. 

151.  Frequently  Identical  Appeals  Used  on  Outside 
and  Inside. — It  is  frequently  the  policy  to  use  for  the 
cover  of  the  bound  or  unbound  piece  of  direct  advertising 
inside  the  envelope  or  wrapper  the  general  idea  of  the 
same  appeal  used  on  the  outside,  and  vice  versa. 

A  pleasing  booklet  is  before  me.  It  measures  only  about 
3x5  inches;  its  outside  has  a  physical  appeal  that  is  such 
as  to  make  me  want  to  pick  it  up  and  look  into  it — yet 
the  temptation  is  not  prompted  by  the  lure  of  words,  nor 
by  the  enchantment  of  art  work;  in  fact,  the  only  word 
on   the    front   is   "Letters."     This   is   hand-lettered   and, 


168       •  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

while  not  losing  dignity,  is  quite  novel.  The  book  has  a 
deckle  (see  Chapiter  XV)  on  two  sides,  and  a  cord  binding. 
Fig.  42  E  illustrates,  greatly  reduced,  how  the  outside 
and  inside  may  be  physically  tied  up  very  closely  together. 
In  this  instance  the  method  is  a  die-cut  opening.  The 
space  just  above  the  panel  of  black  lines  has  been  cut  out' 
of  the  envelope  entirely,  leaving  a  space,  on  the  original,  of 
about  IVi  X  li/>  inches.  Apparently  it  is  an  open  door. 
When  we  get  inside,  we  see  only  the  picture  of  a  man 
standing  with  his  hat  and  overcoat  in  his  hand;  it  does 
not  even  show  the  full  figure,  since  it  terminates  at  the 
man's  thighs;  yet  the  illusion  has  been  created  and  the 
tie-up  cleverly  achieved  of  outside,  outside  headline  and 
the  inside. 

152.  What  a  Change  in  the  Outside  Dress  Means  to 
Users  of  the  Follow-up. — In  Chapter  IX  we  discuss  the 
follow-up,  but  it  should  be  noted  here  that,  regardless  of 
the  style  or  kind  of  follow-up,  the  outside — the  envelope  or 
wrapper,  especially,  and  also  oftentimes  the  letterhead 
itself — may  be  used  to  make  a  physical  impression  instead 
of  being  the  means  of  losing  the  addressee's  interest.  If 
a  person  receives  a  half  dozen  letters  from  some  concern 
and  finds  nothing  in  them  to  interest  him,  he  may  decide 
to  shunt  all  future  communications  from  that  concern 
direct  to  the  waste-basket.  If  the  next  letter  comes  in  a 
light  yellow  envelope,  when  all  the  others  have  come  in 
blue  envelopes  perhaps,  the  chances  are  that  the  outside, 
by  the  change  in  colors,  will  cause  this  letter  to  be  opened. 
Once  the  letter  is  before  the  addressee,  then  it  becomes  a 
question  of  writing  ability  and  approach  as  to  whether  he 
reads  on  or  not,  but  the  outside  will  have,  meanwhile, 
done  its  duty. 

153.  A  Simple  Method  of  Getting  an  Outside  that 
Will  Impel  Attention. — By  far  the  larger  part  of  all  mail 
comes  to  the  desks  of  American  business  in  what  is  known 
as  No.  6%  envelopes.  An  increasing  number  of  firms  have 
adopted  a  simple  method  of  getting  attention  by  physical 
change  of  the  outside.     They  have  adopted  what  is  known 


THE  OUTSIDE  169 

as  No.  9  and  No.  10  commercial  envelopes  (see  Appendix 
B).  At  the  San  Francisco  meeting  of  the  Associated  Ad- 
vertising Clubs  of  the  World,  one  of  the  speakers  told  how 
a  certain  insurance  agent  never  used  anything  else  in  com- 
municating with  any  one  outside  of  the  large  cities  except 
a  No.  10  commercial  envelope,  because,  as  he  phrased  it : 
"The  man  in  the  country  is  so  much  impressed  with  the 
legal-sized  envelope  that  he  will  open  it  under  any  cir- 
cumstances." 

William  A.  Hersey,  of  Robert  H.  Ingersoll  &  Brother, 
in  the  issue  of  Marketing  for  April,  1920,  says:  ''Usu- 
ally we  find  that  No.  9  envelopes  (nearly  the  size  of  the 
No.  10)  will  pull  better  than  a  No.  6  size.  I  suppose  this 
is  because  they  stand  out  more  in  the  mail." 

He  also  adds  some  interesting  data;  namely,  that  in  a 
number  of  test  mailings,  letters  mailed  in  regular  ad- 
dressed envelopes  in  almost  every  case  outpulled  those 
mailed  out  in  outlook  or  window  envelopes. 

154.  In  General  Circularizing  Not  Usual  to  Disclose 
Your  Purpose  by  Copy  on  the  Outside. — In  general  cir- 
cularizing it  is  not  usual  to  "give  away  your  hand"  by 
any  elaborate  copy  or  illustration  on  the  outside  of  your 
mailing  envelope  or  the  outside  fold  of  an  auto-contained 
piece.  At  the  convention  referred  to  in  Section  153, 
another  speaker  told  how  he  had  been  in  a  doctor's  office 
that  morning  and  had  seen  21  one-cent  mailing  pieces 
arrive,  only  two  pieces  of  which  were  opened  by  the  doc- 
tor. One  of  those  had  on  the  outside  this  wording: 
"Modern  Methods  in  Surgery,"  That  was  all;  but  it 
made  a  physical  and  mental  impression  upon  the  doctor. 
He  wanted  to  know  the  latest  modern  methods,  but  woe 
to  the  inside  material  if  it  did  not  live  up  to  its  outside 
promise!  The  other  piece  was  a  house  organ  which  boldly 
announced:  "Keeping  Up  with  the  Profession,"  the  title 
of  a  publication.  Doubtless  for  the  reason  that  the  cap- 
tion told  what  was  inside,  the  piece  was  saved. 

Fig.  42  E  gives  you  no  idea  of  what  is  inside  the  envelope, 
while  Fig,  42  B   boldly   proclaims  what   is  to  be   found 


170         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

within  and  uses  the  outside  to  keep  the  mailing  list  up  to 
date. 

The  reader  should  examine  the  outside  of  all  the  dif- 
ferent pieces  illustrated  in  this  work.  From  this  observa- 
tion he  will  then  understand  why  in  mailing  to  a  "cold" 
prospect — that  is,  one  who  has  not  inquired  or  in  some 
other  way  expressed  interest — the  usual  thing  is  not  to 
show  on  the  outside  either  word  or  picture  that  will  tell 
the  addressee  exactly  wha,t  is  inside.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  is  frequently  the  case  that  a  familiar  sentence  or  scene 
is  used  to  whet  the  addressee's  curiosity  and  encourage 
him  to  go  to  the  inside  for  the  sales  message. 

155.  How  Neatly  the  Inside  Fits  into  the  Outside  and 
How  Harmoniously  Both  Match  Are  Important  Points. 
— In  planning  a  direct  advertising  campaign  two  things 
can  mar  it  almost  to  the  point  of  failure ;  both  are  small 
and  each  has  to  do  with  what  we  are  terming  "the  out- 
side." If  your  inclosure  does  not  fit  snugly  into  the  en- 
velope, or  wrapper,  or  if  in  the  case  of  a  folded  up,  auto- 
contained  piece  that  folding  is  not  done  neatly,  your  pros- 
pect is  going  to  get  a  very  poor  impression. 

This  physical  failure  to  fit  is  often  due  to  the  fact  that 
a  booklet  is  ordered  some  special  size  and  no  provision 
made  for  envelopes  at  all.  The  book  is  delivered;  the 
publisher  of  the  book  then  realizing  that  envelopes  will 
be  needed,  and  not  wishing  to  delay  the  use  of  the  book 
until  special-sized  envelopes  can  be  made  to  fit,  uses  some 
ready-made  standardized  envelope  of  a  size  nearest  to  his 
booklet.  Frequently  in  such  cases  the  nearest  fit  is  no  fit 
at  all. 

The  other  little  thing  that  may  grow  big  is  the  using  of 
a  cheap,  thin  stock  of  paper  envelope  for  a  fine-appearing 
booklet  or  catalogue.  If  you  fail  to  keep  your  envelope 
(outside)  harmonious  as  to  style  and  texture  as  well  as  color 
with  the  inside,  as  if  one  were  a  real  part  of  the  other,  you 
are  missing  out  on  a  point  that  costs  but  little  yet  physically 
makes  a  big  impression  on  the  prospect.  To  be  concrete,  if 
you  get  a  fine  catalogue  with  a  deep  green  cover  stock. 


THE  OUTSIDE  171 

embossed  in  gold  and  colors,  out  of  a  cheap  manila  en- 
velope you  have  the  impression  of  a  man  in  a  dress  suit 
entering  a  drawing-room  witli  muddy  shoes  on  his  feet ! 
A  very  small  investment  in  a  pair  of  rubbers  would  have 
obviated  the  ofl'ending  appearance. 

An  example  of  close  harmony  is  before  us.  The  piece 
is  a  fine  booklet,  "Closing  the  Stove  Sale,"  with  a  cover 
picture  showing  the  stove,  a  prospect  (woman)  and  sales- 
inan  (presumably  retailer).  This  same  plate  and  design 
was  adopted  for  printing  the  envelope,  but  minus  the 
message;  and  since  the  envelope  was  made  of  the  same 
stock  of  paper  as  the  cover  of  the  booklet,  the  harmony 
was  perfect  and  those  receiving  the  piece  were  consciously 
pleased  with  the  physical  appeal. 

While  in  many  large  firms  the  envelopes  of  all  first-class 
mail  are  slit  by  the  office  boy  and  opened  by  a  correspon- 
dence clerk,  the  contents  only  reaching  the  desk  of  the 
person  addressed,  in  the  ease  of  booklets,  house  organs  and 
other  pieces  requiring  envelopes,  these  go  direct  to  the 
desk  of  the  party  addressed.  These  "outside"  appeals 
then  relatively  are  more  important  tlian  the  outsides  used 
on  first-class  mail  matter.  It  is  from  the  "outside"  or 
envelope  that  the  recipient  gets  his  first — and  frequently 
lasting — impression,  and  if  this  outside  is  ragged,  frayed, 
tattered,  even  torn,  as  it  all  too  often  is,  a  finely  planned 
and  executed  piece  is  not  so  effective  as  it  should  be. 

156.  Two  Main  Subdivisions  of  Envelopes  (Out- 
sides).— Practically  all  envelopes  (outsides)  may  be  di- 
vided into  two  main  subdivisions,  according  to  Geo.  F. 
]\Ioss,  an  envelope  specialist  writing  in  Postage,  August, 
1916,  page  86:  "Dealer  envelopes,  being  those  sent  out 
by  manufacturers  and  wholesalers  to  dealers,  and  the 
other,  we  will  call  consumer  envelopes,  are  sent  out  by 
any  one  direct  to  possible  consumers." 

The  dealer  envelope  may  be  made  attractive  in  several 
ways.  One  may  show  the  package,  the  article  sold,  the 
place  of  business,  may  visualize  profits,  the  turn-over,  and 
so  on.     Florence  Manufacturing  Company,  makers  of  the 


172         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Pro-phy-lac-tie  toothbrush,  use  an  envelope  picturing  their 
brush  in  the  yellow  box,  in  its  regular  container,  all  in 
color.  This  makes  an  instant  point  of  contact  with  their 
dealers.  Consumer  envelopes  may  indicate  greater  adroit- 
ness ;  here  is  one  sent  out  by  a  fruit  farm,  showing  straw- 
berries in  colors ! 

157.  Sometimes  Envelope  Backs  Are  Used. — Some- 
times the  back  (or  the  face)  is  used  for  an  all-over  design 
and  the  other  side  made  to  comply  with  the  governmental 
rules  (see  Section  379),  thus  increasing  the  advertising 
value  of  the  envelopes  outside.  Fig.  42  C  is  a  specimen  of 
the  back  of  an  envelope  so  used.  Occasionally  the  center 
of  the  flap  is  made  to  reproduce  a  trade-mark,  thus  help- 
ing to  impress  it  indelibly  upon  the  minds  of  all  who  re- 
ceive it  (see  Fig.  42  D). 

Since  the  recent  ruling  went  into  effect  in  regard  to 
blank  space  on  the  front  or  mailing  side  of  all  envelopes 
and  other  pieces,  as  you  will  learn  in  Chapter  XX,  the 
advertising  value  of  the  outside  has  been  materially  re- 
duced. 

The  serial  idea  of  the  follow-up  has,  upon  several  oc- 
casions, been  helped  through  utilizing  the  outside  of  the 
envelope.  In  one  case  the  company's  trade  character,  a 
messenger  boy,  was  shown  on  the  six  different  follow-up 
outsides  in  six  different  poses.  The  Chain  Bolt  Company 
of  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  has  utilized  a  similar  idea  with  its 
dog  character. 

158.  The  Outside  of  Regular  Mail  May  Differ  from 
that  of  Circular  Mail. — George  Washington  Robnett,  in 
the  issue  of  Mailhag  for  May,  1920,  said:  "The  envelope 
has  the  'first  word'  when  the  letter  or  message  reaches 
the  recipient's  desk.  It  is  the  first  thing  he  sees:  is  the 
first  impression  he  gets.  If  it  carries  a  real  ulca  it  is  al- 
most certain  to  leave  a  lasting  impression.  It  may  be  a 
decidedly  important  factor  in  making  the  sale,  if  that 
should  be  the  object  of  the  message.  .  .  .  An  envelope 
should  be  given  the  same  thoughtful  consideration  that 
any  other  part  of  the  advertising  and  merchandising  pro- 


THE  OUTSIDE  173 

gram  is  given.  .  .  .  An  envelope  can  be  made  as  definite 
an  advantage  almost  as  a  trade-mark.  .  .  .  Above  all,  re- 
member that  it  is  the  first  appeal;  it  is  the  outer  garb  of 
your  message  of  progress  and  service.  It  should,  there- 
fore, be  distinctive  enough  to  strengthen  and  build  up  a 
constant  association  with  your  house  and  product.  It 
should  be  yours  and  yours  alone. ' ' 

This  obviously  has  reference  to  the  regular  everyday 
correspondence  envelope  or  dealer  envelopes  as  described 
in  Section  136.  Gilbert  P.  Farrar,  the  typography  expert, 
author  of  "Typography  of  Advertisements  That  Pay," 
said  in  Printers'  Ink  for  May  22,  1913,  that  curiosity  is 
often  of  prime  importance  in  making  the  outside  of  a 
general  circular.  ^Ir.  Farrar 's  exact  words  are:  "All 
of  the  topnotch  mail  pieces  that  I  have  seen  have  the  ele- 
ment of  curiosity  well  developed  on  the  outside  of  the 
piece." 

"The  Little  Schoolmaster"  of  the  same  publication  in 
the  issue  of  November  18,  1915,  made  this  comment: 
"Why,"  asks  an  advertising  agency  man,  "do  so  many 
advertisers — particularly  publishers — print  on  the  out- 
side of  their  circulars  such  a  good  hint  of  what  the  circu- 
lars are  about  that  we  can  throw  about  half  the  stuff  that 
comes  along  right  into  the  waste-basket  without  bothering 
to  open  it?" 

There's  something  in  this.  Curiosity  impels  us  to  look 
into  many  things  that  we  would  not  bother  with  if  we 
knew  what  they  were  about ;  and  when  curiosity  impels  an 
examination,  that  examination  may  result  in  the  develop- 
ment of  interest.  The  smart  salesman  does  not  usually 
tell  you  offhand  that  he  has  come  around  to  relieve  you  of 
some  of  your  money.  It  isn't  a  good  plan  for  printed 
salesmanship  to  give  warning  or  put  the  prospect  on  the 
defensive. 

Let  us  hasten  to  add,  though,  that  this  curiosity  is  a 
two-edged  sword  and  must  be  extremely  well  handled 
or  it  will  work  harm.  "Smart"  salesmen  are  not  neces- 
sarily "star"  salesmen.     Louis  Victor  Ey tinge,  formerly 


174         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

editor  of  Postage,  in  the  issue  of  Mailbag  for  May,  1917, 
sounded  a  worth-while  warning  on  this  point  when  he  said, 
in  part:  "If  well  done,  this  is  resultful — if  poorly- 
phrased,  poorly  executed,  it  is  extremely  harmful.  Take 
your  choice,  for  even  in  the  book  field  there  is  a  wide 
divergence.  A.  W.  Shaw  Company  rarely  uses  a  bait  on 
the  envelope,  while  McKinlay,  Stone  &  MacKenzie  and 
the  Review  of  Reviews  people,  both  remarkable  book  ven- 
dors, invariably  add  the  extra  bait  on  their  envelopes. 
Too  often  the  additional  printing  on  the  envelope  says,  in 
effect,  'This  is  merely  a  circular  which  is  not  important 
enough  to  travel  alone  and  needs  this  extra  bait.'  " 

WHEN  THE  APPEAL  IS  BY  THE  OUTSIDE 
OF  THE  PIECE  ITSELF 

159.  In  General  the  Same  Principles  Apply. — In  gen- 
eral, the  same  principles  apply  to  the  appeal  of  the  outside 
of  a  booklet,  catalogue,  folder,  or  other  direct  advertising 
piece,  as  has  been  laid  down  in  Sections  146  to  158  inclu- 
sive. There  is  one  main  exception,  the  Postal  Department 
of  the  United  States  Government  frowns  upon  and  fre- 
quently has  banned  die-cut  mailing  pieces  unless  they  are 
inclosed  in  an  envelope  that  follows  standard  proportions. 
Fig.  43  illustrates  what  are  known  as  die-cut  booklets, 
menus,  etc.,  and  if  any  of  these  were  intended  for  distri- 
bution through  the  mails  it  would  be  necessary  to  inclose 
them  in  a  rectangular  envelope.  The  ''For  the  Chil- 
dren" booklet  is  a  children's  shoe  catalogue. 

Where  they  can  be  used,  this  physical  form,  as  will  be 
covered  in  Chapter  XI,  is  decidedly  effective. 

160.  Planning  Striking  Physical  Outsides  for  Book- 
lets, Catalogues,  etc. — As  we  conceive  it,  the  well-planned 
outside  of  a  booklet,  or  catalogue,  or  other  piece  is  sim- 
ilar to  the  outside  of  an  envelope;  its  main  function  is  to 
arrest  the  eye,  and  if  possible  to  help  in  "getting  over" 
an  idea  without  nullifying  the  interest  of  the  prospect  to 
look  within. 

Edgar  W.  Jordan  in  Postage,  May,  1917,  gave  an  excel- 


Fipr.  43. — The  use  of  a  peculiar  form  of  die-cut  cover  to  aid  the 
appeal  of  the  outside  is  shown  here.  The  hooVclet  "'For  the  Cliil- 
dren"  is  a  (•atah)jnie  of  childrcirs  shoes.  Note  liow  the  ]>ictvire 
of  tlie  kiddies  shows  throuirii  the  die-cut  shoe. 


.^    Ladies  <m^ 


]^15TAK 


c 


Fiji-.  44. — A.  'I'lic  liiiiiKirous  a])iioal  on  llic  outside.  Sec  nlsi 
Fiy  SO.  ]•>.  An  old,  familiar  form  of  direct  advert isiii<r.  Tin 
addition  of  tlie  strinL:'  adds  utility.  ('.  An  e\am|ile  of  a  simjilc 
l)hoto,<irai)liic  •■Ideed-off  cover  foi-  a  liooklet.  See  text  for  detail? 
of  all   tliei^t;   illustrations. 


THE  OUTSIDE  175 

lent  rule  in  regard  to  the  designing  of  covers  (outsides) : 
"Combine  with  the  massed  light  and  shade  or  color  some 
typical  or  specific  element."  An  examination  of  covers 
shown  on  Figs.  15  and  16  will  show  examples  of  this  mass- 
ing. 

F.  C.  Drew,  a  specialist  in  making  folders,  in  the  issue 
of  Postage  for  June,  1918,  goes  into  detail  as  to  designing 
the  cover  for  the  mailing  folder.  He  contends  that  the 
outside  of  the  folder  is  akin  to  the  first  paragraph  of  a 
letter,  and  every  one  knows  that  a  letter  with  a  weak  first 
paragraph  is  not  going  to  be  effective. 

Here  are  Mr.  Drew's  rules  for  making  the  most  of  your 
folder  outside: 

"First  you  take  the  product  around  which  the  folder 
is  to  be  built.  Then  you  write  down  on  a  piece  of  paper 
all  the  reasons  why  one  should  buy  that  product  or  be  in- 
terested in  it — all  the  advantages  which  ownership  and 
use  will  confer.  Then  you  write  captions  around  these 
reasons — write  headlines  which  will  epitomize  those  ad- 
vantages with  maximum  force  and  originality  of  expres- 
sion. Then  you  choose  the  most  powerful  headline  and 
illustrate  it — put  it  into  the  most  original  and  at  the  same 
time  the  most  pleasing  dress  you  and  friend  artist  can 
devise.  And  then  you  will  have  a  cover  of  the  'positive" 
or  'directly  suggestive*  type. 

"Sometimes,  however,  covers  of  this  type  are  either 
impossible  or  impracticable  or,  perhaps,  undesirable. 
The  positive  advantages  of  your  product  may  not  lend 
themselves  to  strong  captions  or  to  forceful  illustrations. 
Then  you  employ  a  cover  of  the  'Negative'  or  'Indirectly 
Suggestive'  type — your  caption  and  illustration  suggest 
and  visualize  the  avoidance  or  overcoming  of  a  disadvan- 
tage." 

Mr.  Drew,  it  should  be  noted,  also  goes  on  record  against 
making  a  blanket  rule  as  to  whether  or  not  the  goods  ad- 
vertised should  be  referred  to  on  the  cover. 

i6i.  Adding  Service  to  Make  Physical  Appeal 
Stronger. — A    little    thing    physically,    yet    possessing    a 


176        EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

strong  appeal,  is  the  addition  of  a  string  in  the  corner  of 
a  booklet  for  hanging  it  up.  Especially  does  this  appeal 
to  farmers  and  others  who  do  not  use  a  filing  system. 

The  almanac  of  the  medicine  company  shown  on  Fig. 
44  B  has  a  string,  and  the  one  of  the  fertilizer  company 
has  a  hole  punched  for  such  a  string.  Of  the  two  the 
former  is  much  the  better  since  few  people  will  bother  to 
put  in  a  string  for  themselves. 

162.  Board  Covers  as  a  Physical  Appeal. — Binding  a 
book  or  catalogue  in  board  covers,  especially  in  the  stiff 
board  of  a  regular  book,  makes  it  "mighty"  hard  for  the 
average  man  to  throw  it  away.  Of  course  such  a  binding 
is  expensive,  but  when  the  book  is  of  a  character  which 
should  bear  a  long  life,  it  is  economy  and  insures  that 
it  be  kept.  A  flour  company  produced  a  catalogue  bound 
in  leather  which  cost  $4.50  a  copy;  Appersons  got  out 
portfolios  costing  nearly  double  that.  Both  of  these  con- 
cerns say  that  the  cost  paid  them. 

163.  Selecting  the  Outside. — A  mail-order  man,  in  the 
issue  of  Printers'  Ink  for  October  24,  1918,  told  how  he 
chose  a  catalogue  (outside)  design.  Briefly,  his  plan  is 
to  have  his  artists  furnish  him  with  from  twelve  to  fifteen 
cover  sketches.  These  are  sifted  down  by  the  manager 
to  about  six.  These  are  then  pinned  up  in  a  row,  about 
eye-height,  over  the  manager's  desk.  Every  one  coming 
near  is  asked  to  pass  comment  on  the  covers.  A  record 
of  first  choices  is  kept.  Then  the  manager  gives  the  cov- 
ers what  he  calls  a  "living-room  table  test."  The  two 
most  promising  are  mounted  on  dummy  catalogues  and 
taken  to  the  manager's  home  and  scattered  on  the  table 
among  magazines,  competitors'  catalogues,  and  so  on.  At 
the  end  of  two  or  three  weeks  the  manager  has  been  able 
to  decide  definitely  which  of  the  two  designs  stands 
out  most  effectively  in  this  test. 

But  whatever  "outside"  is  chosen  for  any  piece,  if  a 
container-"outside, "  such  as  an  envelope,  is  needed,  be  sure 
.0  order  it  when  you  order  the  piece  itself  and  save  vexatious 
delays  later  (see  Fig,  66). 


THE  OUTSIDE 


177 


164.  Mailing  Stickers  on  the  Outside  a  Form  of  Direct 
Advertising. — Fig.  45  illustrates  a  number  of  mailing 
stickers  used  on  packages,  bundles,  frequently  on  outsides 
of  envelopes  and  wrappers,  in  mailing  various  pieces  of 
direct  advertising.  Until  recently  little  attention  was  paid 
to  mailing  stickers;  oftentimes  plain  gummed  paper  was 
used.  Now  many  firms  have  special  designs  which  stand 
out  in  the  mails  to  reinforce  the  tie-up  with  the  rest  of  their 
advertising. 

For  the  best  possible  physical  appeal  the  mailing  sticker 
should  receive .  careful  consideration  and  be  tied  up  with 
the  rest  of  your  direct-advertising  campaign.  The  points 
to  be  brought  out  are:  legibility  of  address,  attractive  de- 
sign, and  advertising  value. 


iottnial 


Fig.  45. — Compare  these  mailing  stickers  used  in  mailing  large 
books,  catalogues,  etc.,  with  some  of  those  shown  in  other  illustra- 
tions in  this  book.  The  prospect  gets  his  or  her  first  impression 
from  the  physical  appearance  of  the  outside,  including  the  mailing 
sticker.     See  also  Fig.  87  for  reproduction  of  other  mailing  stickers. 

165.  Utilizing  the  Inside  of  the  Outside. — In  closing 
this  chapter,  which  has  had  to  be  a  "trail-blazer"  in  many 
ways,  since  all  too  few  companies  or  individuals  have  given 
any  care  and  study  to  envelopes  and  mailing  containers, 
let  us  point  out  that  at  least  one  firm  made  even  the  inside 
of  "the  outside"  pay  its  way.  Sears  Roebuck  &  Com- 
pany in  sending  out  a  1600-page  catalogue  print  on  the 
outside  of  the  wrapper,  in  addition  to  the  address  and  the 


178         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

return  notice  to  the  postmaster,  an  announcement  to  look 
upon  a  certain  page  for  a  special  offer.  It  bears  a  further 
announcement:  "How  to  Open."  We  read:  "First 
cut  wrapper  along  heavy  line  below.  Then  unwind  until 
you  reach  edge  pasted  to  cover  of  catalogue  and  tear  off 
wrapper   carefully   along  perforated  line." 

Following  these  directions  we  find  on  the  inside  of  the 
wrapper,  printed  in  two  colors,  what  looks  almost  like  a 
full  newspaper  page  advertisement  of  men 's  clothing,  with 
part  of  the  space  given  over  to  an  offer  of  a  free  sample 
book  of  men's  clothing,  and  bearing  a  coupon  like  a  regu- 
lar publication  advertisement. 

Commenting  on  this.  Printers'  Ink  said:  "Talk  about 
using  all  of  the  pig  but  the  squeal !  But  be  that  as  it  may, 
there  may  be  a  hint  or  two  here  for  manufacturers  who 
do  not  happen  to  be  in  the  mail-order  business."  To 
which  we  append,  Why  restrict  it  to  manufacturers;  why 
should  not  all  use  the  inside  of  the  outside? 

See  also  Section  78,  page  95. 

Questions  for  Class  Work  or  for  Review  Purposes 

1.  Is  the  planning  of  the  outside  given  as  much  attention  as  it 
should  be?    Why  not? 

2.  Is  an  advertising  appeal  necessary  to  produce  a  successful 
outside? 

3.  Give  the  connection,  if  any,  between  outside  planning  and 
follow-up  work. 

4.  Suggest  an  improvement  of  the  outside  of  a  regular  envelope 
used  by  some  firm  you  are  familiar  with ;  also  one  of  the  firm's  cir- 
cular-letter envelopes. 

5.  When  should  envelopes  which  are  to  inclose  a  catalogue  be 
ordered  ? 

6.  In  your  own  words  tell  how  to  make  the  most  of  the  outside 
of  a  mailing  folder. 

7.  Can  you  suggest  ways  of  utilizing  the  inside  of  the  outside 
for  some  firm? 


CHAPTER  VII 

WHO  SHOULD  PREPARE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING? 

One  of  the  first  things  that  a  man  has  to  learn  in  business  is 
how  little  he  can  do  by  himself.  When  he  finds  that  out  he  begins 
to  look  around  for  people  to  do  what  he  can't. — Henry  Ford. 

i66.  The  Growth  of  an  Average  Business. — There  are 
recognized  by  authorities  five  logical  steps  in  the  growth 
of  every  average  business,  though  one  of  the  steps  (the 
fourth)  is  not  necessary  in  a  strictly  mail-order  business. 
These  steps  are: 

1.  You  personally  sell  something  to  your  customer. 

2.  You  go  to  him  through  your  personal  representative. 

3.  You  go  to  him  through  the  mails,  by  adding  an  insert  in 

your  package,  or  otherwise  by  reaching  him  direct. 

4.  You  go  to  him  through  an  agent  or  dealer  who  is  not  your 

own  direct  representative. 

5.  You  go  to  your  customer  in  the  mass,  by  means  of  general 

publicity,  so  that  an  increasing  number  of  persons  may 
be  developed  to  the  point  where  you  can  deal  effectively 
with  them  in  one  or  more  of  the  first  four  methods. 

Fig.  46  will  make  this  clear  to  the  reader. 

The  broom  maker  who  quits  working  for  a  manufac- 
turer, and  buys  a  bale  of  broom  corn,  a  machine,  and  starts 
to  make  his  own  brooms  which,  when  made,  he  puts  on 
his  back  and  peddles  to  his  neighbors  and,  having  sold 
them,  decides  to  sell  also  to  the  nearby  groceries  and  gen- 
eral stores,  has  taken  the  first  step  in  building  a  business, 
and  has  followed  this  next  by  taking  step  four.  If  he 
makes  good  brooms  and  the  vacuum  cleaners  and  like  de- 
vices have  not  by  that  time  driven  him  out  of  business,  this 
broom  maker  eventually  gets  more  orders  than  he  can 
properly  handle  and  sell;  therefore,  knowing  the  raanu- 

179 


I-  You  do  it  all  yourself 


P«r>on«r      f  THE 

wo'i       vbuyer; 


n-Yoo  hire  some  one  to  hejp  you 


in*  You  begin  to  use  the  Moils 


Dr-  You  secure  widerdislribuHon,  You  Deie^ale  some 
of  your  authority,  you  become  a  direct  mail  advertiser 


y-  You  add  General  Publiciiy.butdo  not  sacrifice  the  personal 
and  direct-mail  worK  which  isnoweven  more  necessary Ihan ever. 


Fig.  46.— This  chart  shows-  the  logical  steps  in  the  growth  of  a 
business.  Though  details  may  differ  according  to  the  character 
of  the  business,  yet  the  logical  steps  in  development  will  remain 
unchanged.     Courtesy  of  American  Multigraph  Sales  Co. 


180 


PREPARING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING        181 

facturing  end  himself,  he  hires  some  one  to  do  the  selling 
and  takes  the  step  designated  by  us  as  step  two.  This 
personal  representative,  known  as  salesman,  probably  finds 
he  can  work  several  towns  and  cities  and  eventually  he 
and  the  manufacturer  find  it  desirable  to  use  the  mails  to 
keep  in"  touch  with  their  customers — the  stores.  They 
may  also  decide  to  add  to  their  regular  line  of  house 
brooms  a  whisk-broom  for  clothes;  and  to  advertise  this 
*  they  may  write  letters  to  their  old  customers,  and,  in  or- 
der to  reach  the  users  of  the  house  brooms,  put  a  package 
insert  around  the  handle  of  each  one  to  be  sold.  They 
have  taken  both  parts  of  step  three. 

Since  brooms  are  generally  manufactured  locally  and 
not  distributed  nationally,  there  is  little  likelihood  of  any 
broom  manufacturer's  ever  taking  step  five,  though  an 
association  of  several  broom  manufacturers'  is,  as  this  is 
written  (September,  1920),  planning  to  start,  in  the  fall 
of  1920,  a  campaign  of  cooperative  publicity  for  the 
broom. 

This  instance  is  given  to  show  that  while  every  business, 
excepting  mail-order,  takes  the  five  steps  now  and  then, 
they  are  not  taken  strictly  in  that  order. 

167.  Question  of  Preparation  of  Direct  Advertising 
Arises  Early. — In  the  case  of  our  young  broom  maker 
the  question  will  arise  in  a  very  short  time:  Who  is  to 
prepare  the  direct  advertising  for  the  broom?  The  broom 
maker  may  be  illiterate  and  from  the  first  may  need  to 
employ  some  one  to  prepare  the  letters,  circulars,  package 
inserts,  or  other  direct  advertising  which  he  uses.  In  the 
hypothetical  case  before  us  such  work  of  preparation  would 
probably  be  added  to  the  salesman's  duties,  and  that  man, 
assuming  he  were  an  efficient  salesman,  would  probably 
be  a  poor  writer  of  direct  advertising  because  he  would 
write  as  if  he  were  talking — in  salesman's  language — and 
frequently  his  written  arguments  would  fail  because 
they  would  not  have  the  magnetic  personality  of  the  sales- 
man to  help  *'put  them  over"  in  the  mind  of  the  pros- 
pect. 


182         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING     . 

Or  if  the  broom  maker  can  read  and  write,  he  probably 
will  prepare  his  own  direct  advertising,  but  sooner  or 
later,  as  his  business  grows,  the  problem  so  succinctly  out- 
lined by  Henry  Ford  in  the  chapter  head  comes  up  for 
decision.  The  broom  maker  will  have  to  look  around  and 
find  some  one  who  can  help  him  to  prepare  his  direct  ad- 
vertisements. 

1 68.  Letter-Shop  Concerns  and  Printers  First  Busi- 
ness Counsel  for  Small  Direct  Advertisers. — Quite  likely 
the  broom  man  will  get  out  a  circular  (form)  letter  early 
in  his  modest  campaign,  or  a  circular  in  printed  form 
(dodger  or  handbill)  ;  if  he  gets  out  the  form  he  will 
have  to  take  it  to  a  letter  shop,  by  which  designation  is 
known  the  firm  engaged  in  running  machines  for  dupli- 
cating imitation  typewritten  letters.  If  the  printed  form 
is  used,  for  his  letterheads  in  any  event,  the  printer  is 
called  upon  and  becomes  the  first  business  counsel  of 
the  embryonic  manufacturer.  Since  in  the  hypothetical 
case  we  are  considering,  as  we  see  in  Section  166,  there  is 
little  likelihood  of  general  publicity,  there  is,  therefore, 
little  likelihood  of  our  manufacturer  being  able  to  requi- 
sition the  services  of  an  advertising  agent,  for  advertising 
agents  primarily  are  interested  in  the  sale  of  space  in  pub- 
lications, receiving  as  they  do  from  the  publications  a  fixed 
percentage  of  the  value  of  the  space  sold  to  advertisers. 
It  is  quite  true  that  modern  agencies  are  more  inclined 
to  work  on  a  ''service  fee"  basis,  sometimes  rebating  to 
the  advertiser  their  commissions,  by  a  credit  against  the 
service  fee  agreed  upon,  but  the  amount  of  advertising 
that  our  small  manufacturer  will  ever  do  would  hardly 
be  sufficient  to  attract  the  attention  or  justify  employing 
an  advertising  agent  on  a  service  fee  basis. 

Quite  naturally,  therefore,  as  the  volume  of  direct  ad- 
vertising increases  in  any  business  we  find  it  is  prepared 
by  and  with  the  help  of  those  sources  from  which  it  ob- 
tained its  start  rather  than  by  the  publication-paid  agen- 
cies. By  this  is  not  meant  that  there  are  not  advertising 
agencies  which  have  direct  advertising  departments  and 


PREPARING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING        183 

which  help  their  clients  to  prepare  it,  but  they  are  the  ex- 
ception and  not  the  rulp. 

169.  Why  Letter  Shops  and  Printers  Can  Advise. — 
Letter  shops  are  duplicating,  writing  and  helping  to  write 
letters  for  several  firms,  just  as  printers  are  doing  work 
for  many  firms,  and  so  they  are  kept  in  touch  with  the 
ideas  of  several,  and  quite  often  they  ar.e  advised  of  the 
ideas  which  succeed  as  well  as  those  which  fail.  For  in- 
stance, a  letter  they  write  for  the  local  church  fails  to  get 
any  replies;  the  pastor  probably  will  advise  them  of  that 
fact,  or  the  letter  shop  writes  a  letter  for  the  Local  Union 
No.  Umpty-steen,  and  to  quote  the  secretary:  "It  was 
rotten,  didn't  get  nary  an  answer."  Crude,  but  all  of 
this  informs  the  letter  shops  which  letters  get  replies  and 
which  do  not.  They  also  learn  how  their  clients  succeed 
and  indirectly  assume,  quite  rightly,  that  it  is  in  part  due 
to  their  advertising. 

Of  course  modern  printers — both  large  and  small — fre- 
quently have  special  service  men  and  service  departments 
to  work  out  and  turn  over  to  the  printing-manufactur- 
ing end  of  the  business  problems  submitted  to  the  sales 
end  by  possible  customers.  We  shall  come  to  this  angle 
in  a  later  section. 

Born  of  the  ages-old  idea  of  cooperation,  of  "swapping" 
ideas  and  adapting  them,  comes  the  first  step  in  the  secur- 
ing of  outside  aid  for  the  preparation  of  direct  advertis- 
ing. Even  the  largest  appropriations  are  for  liberal  use 
of  the  services  of  letter  shops,  printers,  and  other  repro- 
duction agencies,  as  we  shall  also  see  in  succeeding  sec- 
tions of  this  chapter. 

170.  No  Matter  Who  Prepares,  the  Personal  Angle 
Must  Be  Maintained  to  Be  Effective. — Leaving  for  the 
moment  the  physical  entity  who  is  to  prepare  our  direct 
advertising,  it  must  be  driven  home  here  that  the  effective 
direct  advertisement  is  the  one  that  most  nearly  ap- 
proaches a  100  per  cent  personal  letter  from  the  writer  to 
the  addressee,  and  therefore  whoever  is  chosen  to  assume  the 
responsibility   of    the    preparation    of    direct    advertising 


184         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

should  be  chosen  with  care.  If  one  letter  shop  quotes  you 
a  price  of  25  cents  less  per  thousand  copies  in  order  to 
get  your  work,  and  another  has  been  writing  all  your  let- 
ters for  you  in  the  past,  you  will  probably  find  the  25  cents 
an  ill-advised  saving.  In  short,  the  counselor  should  be 
chosen  on  the  basis  of  service  and  not  price.  I  know  of  a 
case  where  one  letter  shop  tried  to  get  business  from  an- 
other by  quoting  upon  and  furnishing  much  inferior  me- 
chanical reproduction,  because  the  customer  did  not  know 
the  difference  between  two  different  methods  of  reproduc- 
tion, both  of  the  names  of  which  ended  in  "graph," 

In  many  cities  and  towns  there  are  what  are  known  as 
"free-lance"  advertising  men,  men  who  have  no  mechani- 
cal equipment  of  any  kind,  being  neither  letter-shop  own- 
ers nor  printers.  Local  advertisers  engage  them  either  on 
a  piece-work  basis  or  by  the  day  or  hour,  to  advise  them  in 
the  preparation  of  their  direct  advertising.  Where  one  of 
these  persons  is  located  in  your  city  or  town  for  a  long 
time  and  enjoys  a  good  reputation,  it  is  likely  you  will  find 
that  his  services  are  desirable,  but  where  he  is  here  to-day, 
gone  to-morrow  (because  of  the  principle  laid  down  in  the 
first  paragraph  of  this  section)  you  had  better  choose  some 
one  who  is  there  to  stay. 

A  joke  is  going  the  rounds  which  illustrates  so  well  the 
point  we  wish  to  emphasize  that  we  repeat  it  here :  the 
preparation  of  direct  advertising  is  ever  so  much  more  of 
a  PERSONAL  matter  than  the  preparation  of  a  page  of  pub- 
licity for  a  magazine  having  a  circulation  of  a  million  or 
more  per  month  or  week. 

A  form  letter  was  to  be  prepared  for  a  large  educa- 
tional institution.  The  advertising  manager  wrote  one, 
and  the  sales  manager  another.  One  gentleman  was  a 
slow,  easy-going  talker,  the  other  a  "snappy"  individual. 
Neither  liked  the  production  of  the  other,  and  since  the 
letter  was  to  be  signed  by  the  president  of  the  institution 
they  finally  decided  to  compromise  by  combining  para- 
graphs from  each  of  their  efforts. 

The   different    paragraphs   were   accordingly   typed    off 


PREPARING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING        185 

and  the  joint  letter  was  personally  submitted  to  the  presi- 
dent by  the  advertising  manager.  The  president  looked 
it  over  and  said:     "Who  wrote  this  letter?" 

Wishing  to  be  truthful  the  advertising  manager,  know- 
ing that  he  had  written  the  first  paragraphs  and  the  sales 
manager  the  last  paragraphs,  replied: 

"Well,  sir,  it  is  a  sort  of  a  joint  production." 

"Yes,  I  see,"  snorted  the  president,  pointing  a  pudgy 
finger  between  two  of  the  paragraphs,  "and  there's  the 
joint." 

While  no  form  of  advertising,  as  a  rule,  can  be  effective 
when  a  "joint  production,"  this  is  even  more  true  of  direct 
advertising.  This  is  not  saying  that  the  services  of  more 
than  one  man  cannot  be  called  into  play,  but  one  man  who 
is  familiar  with  all  the  facts,  conditions,  and  purposes  must 
be  responsible  for  the  completed  piece  or  "the  joint" 
will  show. 

171.  Preparing  Direct  Advertising  in  the  Larger  Busi- 
nesses.— So  far  we  have  restricted  our  remarks  to  small 
businesses,  which  of  course  in  the  aggregate  use  a  large 
amount  of  direct  advertising,  but  the  larger  volumes  of  di- 
rect advertising  come  from  the  larger  businesses.  Now  let 
us  see  how  some  of  them  handle  the  preparation  of  direct 
advertising.  Reverting  to  our  broom  maker,  his  business 
might  have  grown  to  the  extent  that  he  finds  it  expedient 
to  appoint  a  man  to  handle  correspondence  and  look  after 
direct  advertising.  In  time  there  would  be  needed  a  clerk 
for  that  man,  and  from  such  nucleus  a  separate  "advertis- 
ing department"  might  logically  grow. 

This  particular  broom  maker  might  see  "the  hand- 
writing on  the  wall" — the  passing  of  the  old-time  broom — 
and  we  might,  without  straining  our  imaginations,  picture 
him  as  bringing  out  a  new  dustless,  oilless  mop  of  some 
kind,  thus  taking  step  five,  as  set  forth  in  Section  166, 
and  using  general  publicity. 

In  the  latter  case  the  general  publicity  would  undoubt- 
edly be  prepared  by  a  recognized  advertising  agency  (that 
is,  recognized  as  an  organized  service-agency  by  the  pub- 


186 


EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


lishers  and  therefore  entitled  to  the  agency  discount — 
some  publications  are  much  more  liberal  with  their  "rec- 
ognition" than  others),  but  the  direct  advertising  in  all 
probability  would  still  be  prepared  in  the  manufacturer's 


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Fig.  47. — An  interesting  organization  chart  which  shows  tlie  im- 
portance of  the  various  angles  of  sales  promotion,  direct  advertising, 
and  duplicating  work  in  the  average  concern. 

own  advertising  department,  for  effective  direct  advertis- 
ing is,  let  us  recall  again,  as  personal  as  possible.  It 
should  be  synchronized  with  the  publicity  work,  of  course, 
and  would  probably  be  the  work  of  the  manufacturer's 
own  ''on-the-pay-roll"  employees  as  contradistinguished 
from  that  of  the  publication  representative  paid  on  a  per- 
centage basis. 

.  Fig.  47,  reproduced  through  the  courtesy  of  the  Salcf 
Manager  Monthly,  shows  complete  organization  of  one  of 
the   comparatively  smaller  motor-car  manufacturers. 

Fig.  48  illustrates  a  plan  of  organization  worked  out 
by  one  of  the  large  New  York  advertising  agents  for  one 
of  its  clients. 


PREPARING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


187 


It  naturally  follows  that  as  the  business  grows  the  dele- 
gation of  authority  must  go  further  and  further.  Com- 
paring Figs.  47  and  48  you  will  find  that  it  is  a  further 
step  from  the  general  sales  manager  to  the  mailing  list  in 
Fig.  47  than  it  is  in  Fig.  48.  Take  the  Detroit  Stove 
Works,  for  example;  under  their  advertising  manager  are 
five  separate  divisions  of  the  work  of  preparing  direct 
advertising.  One  person  has  charge  of  gas  appliance  cat- 
alogues, trade  promotion  and  follow-ups;  another  of  coal 


|G»BwJSJ«M»W|»r   I 


"'itiJ5r-"l 


|^l*rti^A»^l 


iiSTcarfei  r^g^=^ 


rt»l—       Un  Mamal 


Fig.  48. — ^How  one  large  New  York  advertising  agent  charted  the 
organization  of  one  of  its  clients.  This  is  especially  interesting 
because  it  shows  the  importance  placed  on  direct  advertising. 

and  wood  stoves ;  a  third  of  furnaces ;  a  fourth  of  electric 
appliances,  and  a  fifth  of  hotel  appliances.  Each  of  these 
divisions  reouires  specialists,  of  course.  In  explaining 
this  organization  to  Printers'  Ink  (January  27,  1916)  the 
advertising  manager  said  in  part:  "All  departments  (the 
five  referred  to  in  the  preceding  sentence)  work  in  accord 
with  a  general  plan  submitted  by  the  advertising  depart- 
ment, and  literature  and  catalogues  are  largely  in  keeping 
with    the   money   appropriated    for   the    respective   lines. 


188         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

The  printing  and  art  work  are  done  under  the  direction  of 
the  advertising  department." 

This  man  then  goes  on  to  explain  a  policy  frequently  fol- 
lowed in  both  large  and  small  concerns,  namely,  that  of 
securing  the  aid  of  outside  specialists  to  do  some  part  of 
the  mechanical  as  well  as  mental  work;  he  says:  "For- 
merly we  maintained  an  advertising  mailing  department, 
but  due  to  the  seasonal  nature  of  the  different  lines  of 
manufacture  we  have  found  we  can  secure  service  of  this 
kind  from  a  concern  in  our  city  that  makes  a  specialty  of 
this  work  at  about  the  same  expense  and  with  less  bother 
and  trouble  than  when  we  looked  after  the  work  our- 
selves. ' ' 

What  he  has  to  add  about  the  relationship  with  their 
agency  may  be  taken  as  almost  typical :  ''Our  point  of  con- 
tact with  the  advertising  agency  is  simply  the  writing  of 
copy  and  the  placing  of  business  entailed  in'  such  general 
publicity  advertising  as  we  do.  All  trade  promotion  (di- 
rect-advertising copy  and  plans,  etc.,)  are  prepared  by 
the  company." 

In  the  same  article  an  organization  is  referred  to  which 
prepares  the  simplest  form  of  advertising,  and  even 
though  the  advertising  is  for  an  internationally  known 
eompanj'',  still  it  is  exceedingly  simple.  The  company  is 
the  Cream  of  Wheat  Company,  and  the  ''department"  is 
one  man,  of  whom  it  is  said:  "While  he  (the  advertising 
manager-department)  pleads  not  guilty  to  the  painting  of 
the  pictures  which  the  company  uses,  he  does  everything 
else,  and  it. doesn't  take  very  much  time  at  that."  This 
firm  relies  largely  on  colored  pictures  in  general  magazines 
and  uses  practically  no  direct  advertising,  for  every  one 
from  the  tiny  toddler  to  the  aged  hobbler  is  a  prospect. 
All  of  this  accounts  for  this  simple  form  of  department, 
which  has  no  inquiries  to  answer ;  which  has  almost  per- 
fect distribution  (only  a  single  product,  or  brand),  and 
no  necessity  for  booklet,  house  organ,  or  letters  of  any  kind. 

So  we  arrive  at  another  principle ;  both  as  the  business 
grows  and  as  the  problem  of  distribution  grows,  perforce 


PREPARING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING        189 

the  "department"  handling  the  direct  advertising  must 
grow  too. 

172.  Training  the  One  Who  Is  to  Prepare  Direct  Ad- 
vertising.— Inquiries  may  be  handled  by  carefully  trained 
stenographers,  but  if  they  come  in  large  volume  sooner  or 
later  expert  counsel  will  be  necessary  to  answer  special  ques- 
tions related  to  any  problem  involving  educational  work. 
Thus  many  firms  face  the  situation  by  training  the  person 
or  persons  who  are  to  prepare  direct  advertising. 

One  of  the  best  statements  as  to  what  a  direct-advertising 
writer  should  be  was,  strange  to  say,  uttered  by  a  country 
newspaper  publisher,  or,  strictly  speaking,  religious  weekly 
paper  publisher — J.  F.  Jacobs,  senior  member  of  Jacobs  & 
Company,  Clinton,  South  Carolina,  when  upon  one  occasion 
he  said: 

"It  is  very  desirable  that  the  person  who  prepares  direct 
advertising  on  a  given  proposition  should  have  had  ample 
experimental  experience  of  the  value  of  the  article  which  he 
is  trying  to  sell.  He  should,  if  practicable,  have  been  a 
user  of  the  article,  and  thereby  fully  aware  in  an  experi- 
mental way  of  all  of  its  good  qualities.  He  should  also  be 
able  to  put  himself  in  the  position  of  a  consumer  of  the 
article,  to  see  the  likely  objections  which  might  be  raised 
through  its  purchase,  and  the  possible  misuses  to  which  it 
might  be  put,  bringing  the  article  into  disrepute,  so  that  in 
his  attack  he  may  have  always  in  mind  what  the  average 
consumer  would  have  in  mind  when  the  matter  is  first 
brought  to  his  attention,  plus  what  the  average  consumer 
might  have  in  mind  after  having  used  the  article.  The  en- 
thusiasm which  is  also  necessary  in  a  salesman  is  all  the 
more  necessary  in  the  printed  selling  effort." 

"Practice  makes  perfect,"  of  course,  and  practice  in  the 
art  of  using  direct  advertising  may  be  acquired  in  two 
general  ways:  (1)  Experience,  and  (2)  Study  of  the  ex- 
periences of  others  as  recorded  in  trade  journals,  business 
magazines,  advertising  publications,  and  books  similar  to 
the  one  you  are  now  reading. 

Reference  to  Section  504  where  there  appears  a  bibliog- 


190         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

raphy,  will  give  you  the  names  of  several  works  and  publi- 
cations which  should  be  studied  by  those  training  to  prepare 
direct  advertising.     See  also  Section  245. 

173.  Unusual  Angles  of  Preparation. — There  are  un- 
usual angles  in  the  preparation  of  certain  direct-advertising 
matter.  One  lies  in  making  use  of  a  famous  author  or  per- 
sonage in  connection  with  some  book  or  other  piece.  For 
example,  a  manufacturer  of  rubber  goods  found  that  people 
simply  would  not  inquire  for  data  about  garden  hose,  but 
they  would  write  for  data  relating  to  the  canning  of  fruit. 
To  the  latter  inquirers  he  sold  his  jar  rubbers,  but  to  get 
inquiries  for  hose  he  engaged  Ellis  Parker  Butler,  the 
famous  humorist,  author  of  "Pigs  is  Pigs,"  to  write  for  him 
a  booklet  entitled :  ' '  Millingham  's  Cat-Fooler. ' '  It  proved 
very  effective.  Prospects  were  interested  in  Butler  who  were 
not  interested  (they  thought)  in  garden  hose.    See  Fig.  18. 

Another  peculiar  angle  is  the  occasional  piece  of  direct 
advertising  prepared  for  some  cooperative  organization 
which  is  composed  of  several  individual  units,  many  of 
which  probably  have  their  own  separate  advertising  depart- 
ments. Note  that  in  the  case  of  the  several  cooperative  or- 
ganizations of  California  the  advertising,  much  of  which 
is  direct,  is  prepared  by  a  department  which  is  as  self- 
contained  as  if  the  organization  were  that  of  individuals  in 
a  firm  rather  than  of  sometimes  as  many  as  seven  thousand 
separate  firms  combined. 

A  cooperatively  published  book,  "As  a  Man  Liveth,"  put 
out  by  the  Associated  ]\Ietal  Lath  INIanufacturers,  is  a  case 
in  point.  Those  desiring  complete  details  are  referred  to 
page  210  of  Mailhag  for  December,  1918.  Sufficient  for 
our  purposes  here,  however,  is  the  comment  of  the  secre- 
tary-manager, Zenas  W.  Carter,  who  said:  "The  publica- 
tion of  this  book  jointly  enabled  us  to  get  out  an  unusually 
high-class  piece  of  advertising  at  a  considerable  saving  over 
the  cost  which  would  have  accrued  had  each  member-com- 
pany handled  the  subject  independently  by  the  publication 
of  individual  advertising  booklets.  As  the  situation  with 
reference  to  housing  in  the  United  States  was  so  acute,  it 


PBEPARING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING        191 

was  absolutely  necessary  that  the  subject  be  presented  in 
some  good  way." 

Cooperative  educational  advertising  in  publications  is 
a  growing  practice,  but  as  yet  very  little  has  been  accom- 
plished in  preparing  cooperatively  direct  advertising  along 
the  lines  of  the  metal-lath  book  just  referred  to.  It  would 
seem  that  there  is  a  big  field  for  this  form  in  the  future; 
a  town  wants  to  meet  mail-order  competition,  then  why  not 
a  cooperative  book,  or  other  piece  of  direct  advertising? 
It  could  be  entirely  a  local  work ;  local  printers,  letter  shops, 
and  free-lance  specialists  might  be  engaged  and  be  paid  for 
jointly  on  an  equitable  basis. 

174.  Points  on  Organizing  a  Direct-advertising  De- 
partment.— While  earlier  sections  have,  by  inference  at 
least,  covered  the  organization  of  advertising  departments 
in  general,  and  while  in  most  cases  direct  advertising  is  not 
a  part  of  the  work  of  an  advertising  department  sufficiently 
large  to  justify  a  separate  division  or  department,  there  are 
some  additional  points  which  should  be  covered. 

"Mail  Sales,"  "Sales  Promotion,"  "Trade  Promotion," 
and  many  other  terms  have  been  invented  to  describe  the 
Direct-advertising  division  or  department. 

Referring  again  to  Fig.  47  we  find  that  the  Sales  Pro- 
motion Department  handles  the  mailing  lists  and  does  the 
cooperative  sales  work.  At  the  International  Correspond- 
ence Schools,  we  understand,  the  function  of  the  Advertis- 
ing Department  is  to  produce  the  inquiry,  and  the  function 
of  the  Mail  Sales  Department  is  to  turn  the  inquiry  into 
an  order.  In  carrying  out  the  latter,  we  also  learn,  the 
Mail  Sales  Department  prepares  the  advertising  booklet 
used  as  a  means  of  closing  the  sale. 

Fig.  49  illustrates  a  complete  organization  chart  of  the 
Sales  Promotion  Department  of  a  large  paper  manufacturer 
which,  naturally,  is  largely  concerned  with  direct  advertis- 
ing because  the  company  sells  the  raw  product  of  direct 
advertising. 

Briefly  let  us  trace  the  organization  of  that  department's 
personnel.     First  came  the  manager.     He  liad  a  stenogra- 


ROBERTS.  BAMSAY 
Director 


n 


URS.  F.  M.  DOBBS 
Btenogiftpber 


£.  £.  Keough 

A.  W.  Spftuldlng 

£.  M.  King 
SteoogTspher 


PRODUCTIVE 

I 
C.  £.  VMtnla 
Wm,  Robins 

E.  Lelterlts 
Btenographer 


IHreot  b;  m*il  follow  up 
material  for  newspaper 
oampaign. 

1.  Printers'  advertisements 

2.  Paper  Merchanta*     " 
8.  Proofs  uf  nenspaper 

advertieements 

4.  Broadsides 

5.  **  American  Writing's 
Paper 

6.  Enoloeures 

7.  Circular  Letters 
Follow  up  material  for 
Trade  Paper  Campaigns. 

1.  Portfolio  of  advertise- 

Sample  Books 

1.  Large 

2.  SmaU 
File  Folders 
Envelo}^  Enolosures 
Broadsides 
Notification  to  branches  of 

agency  cbanges 
Stock  Cards 
La)>el8 

Special  material 
House  Organs 


Ordering  of  Stook 
"         *'  Engraving 
"         «'  Electrotypes 
"         ••  Printing 

Production  of  special 
reports 

Production  follow  up 


DISTRIBUTIVE 


W.  £.  SuUlraa 

B.  J.  May 

J.  P.  Counter 
Philip  Uousen 
£.  J.  SulUvaa 
John  RelUy 
Catherine  O'Conntr 
Alioe  Hunter 


Distribution  of: 
Follow  up  material 

Sample  Books 
File  Folders 
Envelope  Enclosures 
Special  Reports 

Publications 
House  Organs 
Ciroular  Letters 
"Eagle  A"  Tape 

I       


Mailing  Lists 
Helen  Phenner 
Lillian  Wbitemors 


Printers 

"  Salesmen 

Paper  Merchants 

g, 
men 
Customers 
Company  Personnel 
"Eagle  A"  Unity 


ADVERTISING  AGENTS 


Prepcuation  of  newspaper  advertising 
Production  of  newspaper  advertisements 
Placing  and  ohecking  of  newspaper  advertisements 
Preparation,  production,  placing  and  checking 

0^  Trade  Paper  advertising 
General  consulting  service 


Albert  Hlgbtoo 
M.  Broderlok 
Stenographer 


"Eagle  A"  Unity" 
••Business  Bulletin*' 
Special  ReporU 
Special  Artkites 


Fig.  49. — The  department  represented  by  this  organization  chart 
has  been  steadily  built  up  from  a  nucleus  of  one  man  and  a  sten- 
ographer to  its  present  size.     See  text  for  details. 


192 


PREPARING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING        193 

pher-secretary.  Then  a  girl  was  added  to  take  care  of  the 
mailing  lists.  Next,  a  young  man  was  brought  in  to  look 
after  the  orders  placed  with  printers  and  other  related 
matters.  Later,  came  an  assistant  to  the  manager.  After 
that  another  individual  was  engaged  to  edit  two  of  the 
company's  house  organs — one  to  employees,  the  other  to 
department  heads.  Then  followed  another  man  to  edit  a 
house  organ  to  paper  merchants  and  printers.  By  this 
time  the  sending  of  material  to  consumers  direct  and  to 
distributors  for  redistribution  had  assumed  such  propor- 
tions, sometimes  running  to  hundreds  of  thousands  of  pieces 
a  week,  that  a  person  was  added  whose  duty  was  simply  to 
direct  the  distribution.  From  this  point  on,  each  indi- 
vidual added  helpers  as  needed  until  the  entire  organiza- 
tion was  such  as  you  see  in  Fig.  49.  This  chart  "breaks 
down"  the  department  into  separate  functions  also.  The 
general  publicity  and  trade-paper  copy  is  largely  handled 
by  the  advertising  agency  as  indicated. 

Coming  back  to  the  point  that  is  fundamental  in  all 
direct  advertising,  personal  appeals  are  the  most  effective, 
and  many  of  the  leading  firms  who  appreciate  direct  adver- 
tising and  are  large  users  of  it,  such  as  Burroughs  Adding 
Machine  Company,  Sherwin-Williams  Company,  and,  more 
recently,  the  American  Multigraph  Sales  Company,  have 
districted  the  country  and  appointed  divisional  or  branch 
advertising  managers,  thus  keeping  in  close  personal  touch 
with  the  Western  Coast  by  a  divisional  advertising  manager 
located  in  San  Francisco,  and  with  the  South  by  one  in  At- 
lanta, and  so  on.  These  divisional  managers  prepare  the 
direct  advertising  pieces  for  their  locality  and  all  is  printed, 
published,  and  distributed  through  the  main  or  general 
home-office  department. 

174.  A.  Functions  of  the  Sales-promotion-by-mail 
Department. — Marketing,  for  July  15,  1920,  publishes  a 
thorough  analysis  of  the  functions  of  the  sales-promotion- 
by-mail  or  direct-advertising  department,  from  the  pen  of 
William  A.  Hersey,  Manager  of  the  IMail  Sales  Department 
of  Robert  II.  Ingersoll  &  Brother,  New  York,  as  follows: 


194         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

1.  Writing  to  dealers  in  advance  of  salesmen's  calls. 

a.  General  letters  or  cards  to  dealers.     To  have  dealers 

expect  salesmen. 

b.  On  special  bargains  salesmen  may  have  to  offer,  or  an- 

nouncements of  new  lines. 

c.  Special  letters  to  dealers  who  will  have  "kicks"  to  make 

to  the  salesmen,  or  to  overcome  special  objections 
which  are  known  in  advance. 

d.  To  prospects  who  have  never  handled  your  lines.     To 

give  them  a  general  knowledge  why  they  should 
handle — to  save  salesmen's  time. 

2.  Following  up  salesmen's  calls. 

a.  To  write  to  dealers  who  were  away  or  busy  when  the 
salesman  called.  These  letters,  or  circulars,  should 
be  planned  to  do  the  work  that  the  salesman  would 
have  done  had  he  been  able  to  see  the  dealer. 

6.  To  write  to  dealers  who  complained  about  the  goods  or 
service.     Salesmen  should  report  all  of  the  vital  cases. 

c.  To  write  dealers  who  did  not  buy  all  the  lines  they 

should  handle.  At  times  a  salesman  is  unable  to  sell 
certain  lines,  or  if  for  any  other  reason  he  does  not 
sell  them. 

d.  Write  to   dealers   who   should  have  ordered  more   of 

certain  lines  than  they  did  order  from  salesmen. 

e.  Letters  of  welcome  to  new  dealers,  giving  them  ideas  on 

how  to  sell,  how  to  display,  etc. 

3.  To  keep  in  touch  with  dealers  between  salesmen's  calls. 
It  is  not  always  possible  for  the  salesmen  to  call  upon  all 
dealers  as  often  as  they  should,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  if 
they  were  to  call  too  frequently,  the  volume  of  business 
procured  would  not  justify  the  expense  incurred.  There- 
fore, it  is  advisable  to  keep  in  touch  with  the  dealer  be- 
tween salesmen's  calls  with  letters  covering  such  instances 
as  the  following : 

a.  Keep  up  dealer's  interest  in  linej  offer  sales  sugges- 

tions, etc. 

b.  To  keep  the  dealer  stocked. 

c.  Special  letters  on  lines  which  he  is  likely  to  be  out  of. 

d.  Supply  dealer  with  order  blanks,  return  envelopes,  etc., 

to  make  it  easy  for  him  to  order  general  stock  by 
mail. 

4.  Towns  the  salesman  cannot  cover. 


PREPARING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING         195 

a.  Blanket  mailings  to  the  thousands  of  small  towns  the 
salesmen  do  not  cover.  These  mailings  should  be 
planned  to  secure  direct  returns,  the  same  as  if  a 
salesman  were  to  call  on  these  dealers. 

h.  To  open  new  accounts  in  small  towns  the  salesman  does 
not  reach, 

c.  Special  letters  to  dealers  in  towns  that  a  salesman 
misses  on  his  trip,  but  had  expected  to  visit. 

5.  Selling  special  classes  of  dealers  which  salesmen  cannot 

call  on. 
In  almost  every  line  of  business  there  are  certain  lines 
which  are  handled  to  some  extent  by  trades  other  than 
those  the  salesman  calls  on,  but  the  volume  of  business 
on  these  special  lines  is  so  small  that  it  does  not  warrant 
having  the  salesman  call,  in  order  that  these  special  lines 
may  be  sold  to  special  classes  of  trade. 

6.  Pushing  lines  on  which  salesmen  fall  short. 

Quite  frequently  salesmen  do  not  come  up  to  budget  on 
certain  lines.  Campaigns  can  be  planned  to  sell  lines 
on  which  they  fall  short. 

7.  To  assist  salesmen  generally. 

There  are  times  when  a  salesman  finds  it  difficult  to  sell 
certain  lines,  or  to  meet  certain  objections  which  are  found 
difficult  to  overcome.  To  overcome  either  of  these  con- 
ditions campaigns  can  be  planned  to  back  up  the  sales- 
men's efforts. 

This  very  thorough  analysis  covers  only  the  following  up 
of  salesmen.  To  get  the  angle  of  direct  advertising  de- 
partments where  the  goods  are  sold  through  dealers  and 
where  direct  advertising  is  done  through  those  dealers,  com- 
pare with  Figs.  47  to  49  inclusive.  In  many  instances  the 
manufacturer  in  his  own  advertising  department  cares  for 
the  entire  mailing  of  a  continuous  and  regular  campaign 
on  behalf  of  dealers.  Naturally  the  functions  of  every  de- 
partment differ  at  least  slightly  from  every  other  depart- 
ment even  in  the  same  line  or  industry,  but  these  typical 
cases  will  be  helpful  in  planning  a  separate  department  or 
a  division  within  a  department. 

174B.  The  Place  of  the  "Free-lance"  Writer  in  Pre- 
paring Direct  Advertising. — There  is  scarcely  a  city  of 


196         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

any  size  in  the  country  that  does  not  have  among  its  men  or 
women  what  are  known  as  "free-lance"  writers.  These 
people  have  felt  the  "cosmic  urge"  to  write,  and  frequently 
they  produce  excellent  copy  for  direct  advertising,  house 
organs,  etc.,  for  local  advertisers. 

Their  training  lies,  of  course,  usually  along  general  or 
specific  lines  of  literary  work;  their  ability,  however,  may 
be  used  in  good  stead  because  their  experience  invariably 
fits  them  to  write  ' '  copy  "  of  a  kind  which  is  forceful  enough 
to  make  the  reader  come  to  a  certain  decision  by  means  of 
the  words  before  him  or  her.  In  some  instances  such 
writers  have  had  merchandising  experience ;  quite  often 
their  vocation  is  fixed  with  an  advertising  agency,  or  other 
firm  of  that  nature,  while  the  writing  of  short  stories,  special 
articles,  and  the  like,  is  simply  their  avocation.  A  glance 
through  the  leading  magazines  will  discover  the  names  of  a 
half  dozen  or  more  prominent  advertising  writers  who 
are  following  the  calling  of  "free-lance"  writing. 

Quite  often,  too,  free-lance  writers  may  be  advertising 
men,  editors,  and  other  experienced  "scribes"  who  have 
given  up  their  regular  job  and  though  practically  devoting 
their  whole  time  to  some  literary  occupation  yet  are  willing 
to  "keep  their  hand  in"  the  writing  of  advertising  matter 
by  producing  advertising  copy  to  order.  . 

The  author  knows  of  one  well-versed  advertising  man  who 
has  located  himself  in  one  of  our  eastern  states,  bought  a 
home,  and  settled  down  to  a  regular  occupation  of  writing 
business  articles.  One  of  the  leading  producers  of  direct 
advertising  in  that  section  upon  hearing  of  it  immediately 
got  in  touch  with  him  and  induced  this  experienced  adver- 
tising writer  to  prepare  and  supervise  orders  for  future 
booklets,  folders,  and  the  like.  In  this  way,  the  advertising 
expert  is  assured  of  a  certain  income  per  week  through  this 
connection,  and  for  a  small  retainer's  fee  the  advertising 
producer  is  assured  of  having  a  copywriter  ready  and  on 
call  at  all  times.  Should  the  producer  require  more  than 
the  stipulated  amount  of  the  writer's  time  during  any  one 
week,  additional  recompense  is  provided. 


PREPARING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING        197 

Other  instances  might  be  cited.  There  are  retail  stores 
generally  which  could  well  afford  to  use  the  services  of  local 
writers,  say,  for  one  day  or  two  days  a  week,  when  they 
could  not  afford  to  engage  such  persons  for  an  entire  week. 
Suggestively,  this  offers  a  field  for  more  or  less  intensive 
cultivation  on  the  part  of  authors  and  writers,  as  well  as 
those  attempting  to  join  their  ranks. 

In  this  connection  see  Section  245. 

HOW  TO  USE   OUTSIDE   SERVICES   EFFEC- 
TIVELY IN  PREPARING  DIRECT 
ADVERTISING 

175.  In  earlier  sections  we  have  brought  out  the  fact 
that  there  are  outside  agencies  and  departments  of  business 
which  may  be  called  upon  to  function  with  us  or  our  de- 
partment in  preparing  and  distributing  direct  advertising. 
In  the  sections  which  are  to  follow  we  shall  take  up  briefly 
how  to  use  most  effectively  the  services  at  hand. 

176.  Value  of  Outside  Viewpoint. — It  is  ever  so  much 
easier  for  an  "outsider"  to  maintain  the  outside  viewpoint 
— which  usually  closely  approximates  the  users'  viewpoint 
— than  for  an  "insider,"  that  is  some  one  in  the  company 
or  firm's  own  organization,  to  maintain  this  viewpoint. 
Instances  without  number  could  be  cited  to  show  that  the 
outside  viewpoint  is  valuable.  The  outside  viewpoint, 
especially  when  it  is  specialized  on  some  angle  of  the  propo- 
sition, is  very  valuable.  Some  "outsider"  may  have  made 
a  life-time  stud\'  of  color  in  direct  advertising,  and  without 
knowing  an^-thing  about  some  particular  business  have  a 
viewpoint  which  would  be  worth  far  more  than  the  view- 
point of  an  "insider"  associated  with  that  particular  busi- 
ness or  industry  for  many  years. 

177.  Using  the  Direct-advertising  Specialist. — There 
are  comparatively  few  specialists  in  direct  advertising; 
that  is,  men  who  confine  their  labors  exclusively  to  direct 
advertising.  It  is  therefore  not  so  much  to  be  wondered 
at  that  one  firm  specializing  entirely  on  direct  advertising 


198         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

stands  to-day  in  the  lead  throughout  the  country.  There 
are,  however,  many  firms  which  are  largely  specialists  in 
direct  advertising  but  take  up  in  addition  other  phases, 
such  as  window  displays,  lists,  court-reporting,  and  so  on. 
The  bulk  of  these  are  letter-shop  owners  and  small-town 
agencies,  for  the  smaller  advertising  agencies  often  start 
as  direct-advertising  counselors. 

Listen  to  this  from  Postage,  July,  1916,  page  37,  quoting 
the  head  of  a  business:  ''When  a  business  man  wants  legal 
advice,  he  goes  to  his  lawyer;  when  he  wants  medical  ad- 
vice, he  goes  to  his  doctor;  and  when  he  wants  financial 
advice,  he  goes  to  his  banker — so,  when  he  wants  advertis- 
ing advice,  the  best  thing  he  can  do,  in  my  opinion,  is  to 
go  to  a  good  advertising  man,  as  advertising  is  not  a  busi- 
ness but  a  profession.  As  I  look  back  on  years  gone  by  I 
have  to  smile  to  think  of  the  time  I  wasted  trying  to  get 
up  advertising  copy  for  ourselves  when  I  knew  absolutely 
nothing  about  advertising." 

Early  in  1916,  J.  H.  Buswell,  himself  a  specialist  in  di- 
rect advertising,  made  prior  to  the  Philadelphia  convention 
of  the  Associated  Advertising  Clubs  a  thorough  study  of 
the  subject  of  utilizing  outside  specialists  to  help  in  prepar- 
ing direct  advertising  and  he  found  that  76  per  cent  of 
the  firms  replying  favored  such  a  practice,  15  per  cent 
were  against  it,  and  9  per  cent  were  "neutral." 

Mr.  Buswell 's  findings  showed  that  where  a  specialist 
might  not  fit  in  would  be  solely  in  the  handling  of  a  highly 
technical  product. 

He  also  found  that  the  specialist  was  most  needed  in  the 
small-town  field.  One  firm  replying  to  his  questionnaire 
summed  up  the  problem  in  this  manner:  "The  large  con- 
cerns which  can  afford  to  hire  a  corps  of  advertising  men 
of  ability  need  not  look  outside  for  assistance  in  preparing 
any  kind  of  copy,  but  the  small  concern  that  does  not  hap- 
pen to  possess  a  man  with  some  knowledge  along  advertis- 
ing lines  really  needs  to  look  elsewhere  for  assistance." 

This  report  also  gave  a  very  clear  idea  of  the  five  things 
that  the  average  firm  wants  from  an  outside  specialist: 


PREPARING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING         199 

1.  The  outside  or  consumer  viewpoint  on  plans,  layout,  and 

copy.     Compare  Section  176. 

2.  Ability  to  use  properly  the  data  with  which  he  is  provided. 

Truth !     Skill ! 

3.  A  prompt  and,  when  necessary,  "Emergency"  service. 

4.  A  reliable,  practical,  experienced,  thoroughly  progressive 

service. 

5.  Ability  to  make  it  pay. 

178.  The  Advertising  Agency  and  Direct-advertising 
Counsel. — In  other  sections  we  have  referred  to  average 
advertising  agencies  and  their  lack  of  interest  in  direct  ad- 
vertising, but  among  them  we  find  certain  exceptions.  In 
fact  the  really  far-seeing  agencies  are  becoming  more  and 
more  the  representatives  of  the  advertiser  and  not  of  the 
publisher.  Here  before  us  is  the  report  of  the  success  of  a 
New  York  agency  which  has  specialized  in  mail-order  style 
copy;  that  is,  copy  which  produces  the  inquiry.  But  the 
inquiry  amounts  to  nothing  unless  it  develops  into  a  sale,  so 
this  agency's  success  has  largely  been  built  by  helping  its 
clients  to  plan  direct  advertising  as  well  as  publication 
advertising.  A  word  or  two  of  its  accomplishments  will  be 
illuminating.  On  one  of  its  accounts  its  publication  copy 
produced  inquiries  for  63  per  cent  less  than  former  costs 
and  ITS  FOLLOW-UP  copy  closed  one  in  five  on  an  article 

WHICH  VARIED  ACCORDING  TO  ITS  SPECIAL  CONSTRUCTION  FROM 

$25  TO  $40.  In  another  case  the  agency  multiplied  by  three 
the  sales  of  a  large  correspondence  school  and  this  is  all 
that  it  did:  "Rewrote  the  first  follow-up  lelrter,  alter  the 
enrollment  blank,  and  made  a  slight  change  in  the  terms." 
When  the  writer  was  editor  of  Postage  he  conducted  a 
study  of  what  advertising  agencies,  especially  the  larger 
ones,  were  doing  in  connection  with  direct  advertising,  the 
findings  of  which  were  published  in  the  issue  of  October, 
1918.  One  of  the  most  progressive  reported  this:  "By 
far  the  larger  part  of  work  done  on  this  account  (an  office 
specialty)  is  devoted  to  preparation  of  special  mail  work, 
booklets,  house  organs,  sales  manuals,  catalogues,  instruc- 
tion books,  and  general  selling  literature.     Every  link  of 


200         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

the  chain  must  be  as  strong  as  I  can  make  it.     And  who 
shall  say  which  link  is  most  important  ? ' ' 

Another  agency  reported  in  detail  what  it  had  done  in 
direct  advertising  for  several  clients,  one  of  which  was  a 
silk  account  using  a  book  costing  more  than  $1.  This  piece 
was  said  to  be  almost  as  effective  as  the  sending  of  a  per- 
sonal salesman.  This  fact  is  interesting  only  because  it  led 
the  editor  to  ask  how  the  agency  could  accomplish  this. 
The  answer  of  its  president  sums  up  the  idea  of  using  any 
outsider's  help:  "We  find  it  necessary  to  get  the  best, 
results  from  this  sort  of  work  (direct  advertising)  to  em- 
ploy specialists,  artists,  and  a  printing  supervisor  who  are 
not  only  good  mechanical  workers,  but  also  have  advertising 
sense  and  are  able  to  create  real  ideas.  Working  in  this 
way,  we  are  glad  to  report  that  our  department  of  direct 
advertising  shows  a  consistent  and  steady  growth  profit- 
able both  to  us  and  to  our  clients." 

179.  The  Printer  and  Direct-advertising  Counsel. — A 
certain  state  fair  had  always  met  with  a  loss,  but  in  1919 
its  directors  put  the  entire  campaign  in  the  hands  of  a  firm 
of  local  service-printers,  with  the  result  that  for  the  first 
time  in  its  history  the  fair  made  a  profit,  $60,000  to  be 
exact,  and  drew  the  largest  attendance  which  it  had  ever 
enjoyed.  The  service  men  were  able  to  do  this  because  they 
were  specialists  in  direct  advertising  as  well  as  printing. 

Edward  Gorman,  secretary  of  the  Knoxville  council  of 
the  Tennessee  Printers'  Federation,  in  a  recent  issue  of 
Direct  Advertising  wrote:  "Too  many  printers  are  ever 
ready  to  proclaim  themselves  specialists  in  any  class  or 
kind  of  printing  without  taking  the  trouble  to  learn  any- 
thing about  it.  Any  printer  can  print  direct-advertising 
matter  and  more  or  less  of  it  is  done  in  every  commercial 
plant.  But  knowing  how  to  specialize  in  it  and  produce  tbe 
sort  of  work  that  'reaches  the  spot'  and  earn  good  profits  for 
both  printer  and  customer  is  a  very  different  matter." 

Yet  the  printer  is  the  manufacturer  of  an  advertising 
medium — direct  advertising — and  there  is  no  question  that 
the  work  of  the  United  Typotheta3  of  America  (The  Inter- 


[     .  PREPARING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING         201 

national  Association  of  Master  Printers)  during  the  last 
several  years  has  educated  many  printers  to  the  point  where 
they  can  offer  intelligent  business  counsel.  Not  long  ago 
one  of  the  leading  advertising  publications  had  a  long 
article  on  capitalizing  the  printers'  brains,  adding  that 
"When  you  do,  the  advertising  appropriation  usually  goes 
further  because  the  printer  knows  the  sales  problem." 

Literally  hundreds  of  instances  similar  to  the  one  referred 
to  in  the  opening  paragraph  of  this  section  could  be  quoted 
to  show  that  printers'  counsel  on  direct  advertising  should 
be  sought,  though  fairness  to  our  readers  requires  that  Mr. 
Gorman's  statement  in  the  second  paragraph  be  quoted  to 
warn  against  those  few  printers  who  claim  what  they  can- 
not deliver. 

George  A.  Galliver,  president  of  the  American  Writing 
Paper  Company,  in  an  address  before  a  conference  of  master 
printers  made  a  statement  covering  the  ideal  arrangement 
of  printer  with  direct  advertiser  that  merits  recording  here : 
"We  want  to  see  the  day  when  the  majority  of  all  the  buy- 
ers of  printing  will  go  to  the  printer,  not  for  a  price  or  a 
bid  on  a  job,  but  as  they  would  go  to  an  architect  if  they 
were  building  a  house,  for  suggestions,  advice  and  service. 
We  also  want  to  see  the  customer  cooperate  with  the  printer, 
placing  his  problem  before  him,  so  that  the  printer  can 
familiarize  himself  with  the  customer's  needs  to  such  an 
extent  that  he  can  lay  out  recommendations  for  printing 
jobs  of  such  style  and  form  that  the  customer  himself  may 
not  have  thought  of,  which  would  spell  success  for  the  cus- 
tomer." 

This  statement  is  to  the  point  and  is  emphasized  both 
by  the  nation-wide  endorsement  which  the  company  men- 
tioned has  made  of  the  U.  T.  A.  and  the  enormous  appro- 
priation it  has  been  expentiing  to  prevail  upon  the  buyer 
of  direct  advertising  to  work  with  the  printer. 

1 80.  Examples  of  What  Outside  Help  Has  Accom- 
plished.— One  or  two  examples  of  what  outside  coopera- 
tion has  accomplished  will  be  suggestive  to  the  direct  adver- 
tiser.    An  advertiser  needed  300  window  cards  measuring 


202         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

14  X  24  inches.  His  original  plan  was  to  reproduce  this 
design  in  three  colors  on  ordinary  white  stock  by  letterpress 
methods  of  printing  from  Ben  Day  and  half-tone  plates. 
By  such  a  process  the  set  of  three-color  plates  would  have 
cost  several  hundred  dollars  and  the  stock  and  printing 
about  $100,  at  least,  making  the  total  cost  of  the  job  in  ex- 
cess, of  $600,  or  about  $2  each  for  the  cards. 

A  specialist  (outsider)  took  a  light  stock  28  x  16  instead 
of  24  X  14 ;  to  this  he  tipped  on  a  large  colored  underlay, 
and  the  underlay  in  turn  on  a  very,  heavy  gray  mount  33  x 
22  inches.  Each  card  was  colored  by  hand  and  a  richer 
and  softer  effect  was  obtained  than  originally  planned. 
The  total  cost  of  the  cards  was  $300,  or  $0,857  each. 

During  1919  and  1920  it  was  hard,  following  the  war 
drives,  to  put  on  any  successful  campaigns  for  philanthropic 
or  charitable  institutions.  Yet  one  firm  of  direct-advertis- 
ing specialists  in  New  York,  by  the  use  of  a  planned  direct- 
advertising  drive,  exceeded  the  mark  of  $975,000  set  for 
the  Association  for  Improving  the  Condition  of  the  Poor. 
The  same  organization  by  another  drive  in  a  similar  man- 
ner raised  $800,000  for  the  Visiting  Nurse  Service  Cam- 
paign of  Henry  Street  Settlement. 

171.  What  a  Typical  Outside  Counsel  in  Direct-ad- 
vertising Does. — Here  is  a  chart  showing  just  what  a  cer- 
tain Northwestern  firm  of  direct  advertising  offers  to  those 
who  use  its  services: 

A.  Art  Department: 

1.  Sketches — 

a.  Pencil. 

b.  Water  color. 

c.  Wash. 

d.  Oil. 

e.  Crayon. 

f.  Pastel. 

g.  Combination. 

2.  Layouts — 

a.  For  folders — all  kinds. 

b.  Advertisements. 


PREPAEING  DIRECT  ADVEBTISING         203 

c.  House  organs. 
d.  All  sorts  of  direct  mail. 

3.  Working  drawings — 

a.  For  every  reproduction  purpose. 

4.  Illustrations — 

a.  For  books. 

5.  Retouching — 

a.  Photographs. 

b.  Built  up  from  blue  prints. 

c.  Built  up  from  specifications. 

d.  Bird's-eye  views. 

6.  General — 

a.  Anything  else  you  can  think  of  that  can  be  pro- 
duced by  pencils,  crayons,  or  brushes,  with  wet 
or  dry  colors,  on  canvas,  cloth,  paper,  wood, 
metal,  or  other  surface. 

7.  Photographs — 

a.  Negatives. 

b.  Prints. 

c.  Enlargements. 

d.  Reductions. 

e.  Silver  prints. 

B.  Copy  Department: 

1.  Advertising — 

a.  Direct-by-mail  campaign. 
6.  Dealer  campaigns: 

(1)  Portfolios. 

(2)  Window  displays. 

(3)  Sales  helps. 

(4)  House  organs. 

(5)  Ad  books. 

(6)  Letters. 
c.  Special  work — 

(1)  As  required. 

C.  Engraving  Department: 

1.  Line  etchings — 

a.  On  zinc. 

b.  On  copper, 

c.  Ben  Day  effects. 

d.  Color  work   (flat). 

e.  Half-tone  (newspaper). 


204         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

2.  Copper  Etchings — 

a.  Half-tones — 

1.  All  screens. 
&,  Combination — 

1.  Half-tone  and  line. 

c.  Duotones. 

d.  Color  process. 

3.  Electrotypes — 

D.  Printing  Department: 

1.  Everything  (except  circus  posters,  which  are  below 
our  grade).  Everything  else,  from  a  letterhead  to 
a  magazine  issue. 

E.  Cooperation  Department: 

1.  Business  sense. 

2.  Advice  and  counsel. 

3.  Efficiency  in  management. 

4.  Faithful  promises. 

5.  Quality,  deliveries,  etc.. 

What  advertising  man  of  experience  can  properly  define  all 
these  terms,  let  alone  know  how  to  handle  the  technique 
they  involve? 

182.  The  Place  of  the  Director  of  Direct  Advertising. 
— Most  of  us  have  a  family  physician.  He  is  an  able 
general  practitioner,  but  if  he  finds  we  have  some  serious 
malady  or  derangement  he  calls  in  the  services  of  a  special- 
ist. The  two  physicians  consult  and  work  together  and  our 
life  is  saved.  So  it  is  in  advertising  in  general  and  direct 
advertising  in  particular.  The  director  of  direct  advertis- 
ing to-day  is  comparable  to  the  general  practitioner.  He 
diagnoses  the  needs  and  requirements  of  his  company  and 
calls  in  the  specialists  in  the  various  forms  of  direct  adver- 
tising who  can  best  help  him  to  serve  his  client. 

Andrew  Carnegie  either  gave  Henry  Ford  tlie  idea  used 
in  our  chapter  head,  or  seconded  it,  for  he  is  quoted  as 
saying:  "It  marks  a  big  step  in  a  man's  development 
when  he-  comes  to  realize  that  other  men  can  be  called  in  to 
help  him  do  a  better  job  than  he  could  do  alone." 


PREPARING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING        205 

Questions  for  Class  Work  or  for  Review  Purposes 

1.  Give  the  five  steps  in  the  growth  of  an  average  business. 

2.  Take  some  business  you  are   familiar  with   and  trace   its 
development, 

3.  Why  is  it  sometimes  advisable  to  use  outside  advice  in  plan- 
ning direct  advertising? 

4.  Give  your  idea  of  what  training  is  necessary  to  make  a  com- 
petent producer  of  direct  advertising. 

5.  Briefly  describe  how  to  organize  a  direct-advertising  division 
of  an  advertising  department. 

6.  Compare,    in    a   few    words,   the   advertising    agency,    the 
printer,  and  the  letter-shop  specialist. 

7.  Is  it  the  sign  of  a  big  or  a  small  man  to  call  in  outside 
assistance?    What  is  left  then  for  the  "manager"  to  do? 


PART  THREE 

THE  MENTAL  FACTORS  IN  DIRECT 
ADVERTISING 

In  which  are  discussed  the  importance  of  planning  the 
campaign,  regardless  of  number  of  pieces  involved,  to- 
gether with  whatever  follow-up  may  be  desired,  and,  finally 
— but  very  important — the  writing  of  the  copy. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
PLANNING  THE  CAMPAIGN 

In  campaigns  every  move  must  he  analyzed  and  prepared  in 
advance  and  in  relation  to  every  other  move;  all  must  be  directed 
toward  the  common  goal.  Groping  tactics,  halfway  measures, 
lose  everything. — Napoleon. 

183.  Lack  of  Continuity  Weakness  of  Much  Direct- 
advertising  Effort. — Robert  Ruxton,  famous  as  an  analyst 
of  direct  advertising,  hit  the  nail  on  the  head  as  to  the 
primary  weakness  of  much  direct-advertising  effort  when  in 
the  issue  of  Knowledge  for  August-September,  1920,  he 
wrote:  "The  men  who  have  built  fortunes  out  of  periodi- 
cal (publications)  methods  of  advertising  are  as  twenty 
to  one  as  against  those  who  have  built  fortunes  out  of  the 
direct-mail  method  of  advertising,  though  the  direct-mail 
advertisers  are,  numerically,  greatly  in  the  majority. 

"Why  should  one  class  relatively  fail,  and  the  other  class 
relatively  succeed? 

' '  The  answer  lies  very  largely  in  one  term :  Continuity. 

"The  direct-mail  advertiser  almost  immediately  'balks' 
at  any  campaign  embracing  the  same  continuity  of  effort 
that  is  accepted  as  a  matter  of  course  by  his  periodical-using 
brother. 

"To-day  the  great  majority  of  advertisers  (periodically 
speaking)  figure  on  a  yearly  basis — advertising  starts  un- 
der contract  with  penalties  for  discontinuance  in  the  form 
of  reversion  to  short  term  or  higher  rate. 

"The  whole  system  makes  for,  and  has  brought  about,  in 
the  periodical  field  a  system  of  continuity,  that,  willy- 
nilly,  has  made  advertisers  prosperous  whether  they  liked 

209 


210         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

it  or'  not.  There  are  many  cases  in  advertising  history 
where  compulsory  continuity  has  carried  the  man  over 
'dead  center'  and  made  his  fortune,  when,  if  he  had  been 
a  free  agent,  he  would  have  ceased  effort  at  the  critical 
juncture  and  gone  down  in  ruin. 

' '  This  is  one  of  the  great  basic  things  in  which  PEKiODiCAii 
publicity  differs  from  direct-mail  publicity,  and,  like  all 
FUNDAMENTAL  principles,  it  exercises  a  stupendous  influ- 
ence when  spread  over  an  aggregate  of  cases.  In  advertis- 
ing— all  advertising — continuity  is  a  paramount  factor. 
This  PARAMOUNT  FACTOR  is  ABSENT  from  nearly  all  direct- 
mail  campaigns." 

Mr.  Ruxton  has  been  quoted  at  some  length  because  of 
his  broad  experience  and  international  reputation  in  this 
field,  and  because  what  he  says  with  reference  to  periodical, 
or  publication,  advertising  applies  almost  equally  well  to 
trade  paper,  farm  publication,  newspaper,  street-car  card, 
bill-board  and  every  other  field  of  advertising. 

By  CONTINUITY  we  do  not  mean  monotony.  That  is,  the 
campaign  may  embrace  any  or  all  of  the  various  physical 
forms  fully  described  in  Chapter  III  of  this  work. 

No  fixed  rule  can  be  laid  down  as  to  which  physical  form 
should  be  used  in  any  particular  campaign.  "What  is  de- 
sired— the  aim — what  competitors  are  doing;  what  direct 
advertising  matter  is  being  received  by  the  prospect  from 
other  sources;  these  are  just  a  few  of  the  factors  which 
enter  into  a  decision  as  to  what  physical  form  or  forms  are 
to  be  used  in  any  campaign. 

One  firm  has  found  it  a  good  plan  to  precede  the  mailing 
of  its  annual  catalogue  by  a  very  attractive  announcement 
form  of  mailing  card.  Another  mails  with  every  booklet  a 
form  letter  calling  attention  to  some  particular  paragraph 
which  is  marked  in  the  booklet. 

It  may  be  fairly  generally  admitted  that  it  is  not  wise  to 
stick  monotonously  to  any  one  phj-sical  form  of  direct  ad- 
vertising throughout  a  campaign.  In  other  words,  do  not 
confine  yourself  exclusively  to  letters,  or  to  folders,  or  to 
broadsides.     Just  as  the  good  baseball  pitcher  is  a  man  who 


PLANNING  THE  CAMPAIGN  211 

"mixes  them  up,"  so  the  good  campaign-planner  varies  the 
form  of  his  appeals  to  the  possible  prospect. 

The  following  are  a  few  of  the  elements  which  will  help 
make  the  appeal  have  continuity. 

1.  Use  of  same  style  of  lettering  for  trade-mark,  trade  name, 

company  name,  etc. 

2.  Use  of  same  color  or  colors  throughout  the  campaign. 

3.  Use  of  same  style  of  copy,  or  illustrations,  or  other  such 

element. 

4.  Standardized  border,  tint  blocks,  etc. 

5.  Utilization  of  a  trade  character;  one  truck  company,  for 

example,  a  series  of  enclosures  written  by  "Driver  Dan." 

184.  Five  Fundamentals  in  Planning  a  Campaign. — 
Continuity  is  possible  only  with  a  plan.  In  the  case  of 
forms  of  advertising  other  than  direct  advertising  for  a 
man  who  has  something  to  sell,  the  advertiser  sees  to  it  that 
something  is  planned  definitely  to  be  offered — either 
weekly,  monthly,  yearly,  or  upon  other  definite  bases  of 
time.     In  the  case  of  direct  advertising  this  is  not  the  case. 

The  five  fundamentals  which  must  be  learned  before  you 
can  plan  any  direct-advertising  campaign  are: 

1.  Analysis  of  aim  or  purpose. 

2.  Analysis  of  appeal  to  be  used. 

3.  Analysis  of  time  of  appeal  and  reappeal. 

4.  Analysis  of  effect  of  physical  and  mechanical  factors  upon 

appeal. 

5.  Analysis  in  advance  of  possible  success  through  tests. 

Fig.  50  graphically  shows  the  principal  factors  in  plan- 
ning a  campaign,  including  the  follow-up.  When  these 
fundamentals  are  learned  it  may  be  found  that  one 
single  piece  will  accomplish  the  results  desired ;  again, 
it  may  develop  that  many  different  pieces  will  be 
needed.  Possibly  it  may  also  bring  about  the  decision  not 
to  attempt  the  campaign  at  all.  See  Section  130  for  a 
simple  example  of  this  class. 

After  planning  the  campaign  plan  the  individual  piece. 
See  also  Fig.  66. 

185.  Planning  Presupposes  Time  for  Preparation. — "It 
is  a  fact  that  all  too  many  direct-advertising  campaigns 


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Fig.  50. — This  chart  not  only  takes  into  consideration  the  original 
campaign  but  also  the  follow-up.     The  text  must  be  read  for  complete 
details,  since  only  the  "high  spots"  are  covered  on  this  chart. 

212 


PLANNING  THE  CAIVIPAIGN  213 

are  prepared  to-night  and  wanted  'ready  to  mail'  in  the 
morning,"  wrote  W.  Arthur  Cole,  of  Wm.  F.  Fell  Com- 
pany, a  printing  firm  specializing  in  direct  advertising,  in 
Advertising  &  Selling  for  June,  1914.  Mr.  Cole  con- 
tinued: "When  it  becomes  necessary  to  make  an  attack 
before  daylight — *at  the  psychological  moment' — go  to  the 
newspapers.  When  you  must  take  a  market  by  siege — 
and  in  these  days  competition  forces  most  advertisers  to 
do  it  that  way — do  it  by  a  direct-advertising  campaign 
preplanned  to  the  last  detail." 

The  advice  embodied  in  this  quotation  does  not  consider 
the  enormous  field  of  using  direct  advertising  to  follow  up 
inquiries  produced  from  other  sources,  yet  just  as  much 
care  in  planning  is  necessary  here. 

Preparation  means  study,  and  study  takes  time.  Many 
insert  an  advertisement  in  some  magazine  or  business  paper 
and  expect  to  follow  it  up  by  direct  advertising  yet  do  not 
plan  that  follow-up  literature  until  the  first  inquiries  have 
been  received. 

Some  advertisers  know  months,  even  years,  in  advance 
that  a  certain  purchase  will  be  made  at  a  certain  time  and 
yet  they  fail  to  plan  ahead  of  time  carefully  what  they  will 
do  to  make  that  purchase  come  their  way  through  direct- 
advertising  effort. 

The  quotation  from  Mr.  Cole  is  important  from  another 
angle,  it  emphasizes  the  interdependence  of  all  forms  of 
advertising;  and  its  sincerity  is  vouched  for  in  that  the 
producer  of  one  class  recommends  another  class  as  best 
suited  for  some  particular  purpose. 

i86.  Analysis  of  Aim  or  Purpose. — First,  then,  comes 
an  analysis  of  what  is  the  concrete,  definite  aim  or  purpose 
of  your  campaign.  Let  a  word  of  warning  be  interpolated 
at  this  point:  do  not  get  into  the  habit  of  thinking  of  "cre- 
ating a  campaign";  keep  ever  before  your  miiuVs  eye  that 
you  want  some  one  to  do  some  thing  and  plan  your  cam- 
paign through  your  analyses  accordingly. 

It  might  seem  that  no  one  could  be  guilty  of  sucli  a  child- 
ish thing  as  to  start  a  campaign  of  any  kind  without  a  defi- 


214         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

nite  aim  or  purpose,  though  the  advertising  graveyard 
shows  this  is  all  too  often  the  casfe.  Instances  are  on 
record  w^here  ''to  get  business"  was  apparently  the  aim  or 
purpose  and  a  subseciuent  analysis  revealed  the  impossi- 
bility of  getting  business  because  of  local  conditions,  which 
a  prior  analysis  would  have  disclosed.  For  example,  an 
attempt  to  get  orders  for  electric  washers  in  rural  territory 
where  there  is  no  day  current  of  electricity  or  possibly  no 
electric  current  at  all. 

Would  you  call  up  an  architect  and  say:  ''Build  me  a 
seven-story  building  over  on  Steenth  Street.  Draw  your 
plans  accordingly"?  Or  would  you  call  up  a  lawyer  and 
say:  "We  have  some  fine  flour  here  to  sell,  draw  me  up 
a  contract  for  selling  it"?  Would  you  expect  either  the 
architect  or  the  attorney  to  be  able  to  plan  the  building  or 
draw  the  contract  without  more  information  as  to  your  in- 
tentions? To  the  architect  you  would  expect  to  say  what 
the  building  was  to  be  used  for,  whether  it  was  to  be  a 
residence  or  a  factory;  of  brick  or  sheathing;  while  to  the 
attorney  you  would  expect  to  explain  to  whom  you  wished 
to  sell  the  flour,  how  much  there  was  of  it,  and  other  such 
factors. 

Yet  day  in  and  day  out  direct-advertising  campaigns  are 
called  for  by  manufacturers,  retailers  and  others  with  the 
printer,  advertising  man,  or  direct-mail  specialist,  who  are 
given  no  more  definite  instructions  than  the  ridiculous  ones 
quoted  in  the  paragraph  immediately  preceding  this. 

Let  the  author  digress  for  a  moment  here  to  say  that 
with  an  idea  of  helping  to  point  the  way  to  continued,  per- 
sistent, consistent  planned  campaigns,  giving  consideration 
to  all  strategical,  mental,  and  mechanical  factors,  he  has 
largely  submerged  his  own  personal  opinions  throughout 
this  work  and  endeavored  to  make  it  the  composite  experi- 
ence— brass  tack  facts  of  accomplishments,  not  of  one,  or  a 
few,  but  of  many,  in  a  large  number  of  industries. 

If  it  is  absolutely  impossible  to  plan  a  campaign  for  a 
Jong  period  ahead,  plan  it  for  as  long  a  period  ahead  as 
possible.     Strive  for  continuity  and  persistency. 


PLANNING  THE  CAMPAIGN  215 

Thera  are  eight  main  aims  or  purposes  which  can  be 
accomplished  by  direct  advertising : 

1.  Producing  direct  orders — sales. 

2.  Producing  inquiries. 

3.  Generating  good-will. 

4.  Keeping  interest  alive. 

5.  Supplementing  publicity. 

6.  Paving  way  for  salesmen. 

7.  Getting  lists  and  correcting  them. 

8.  Strategical  purposes. 

These  aims  or  purposes  frequently  interweave.  For  in- 
stance, in  a  campaign  that  is  to  produce  inquiries  you  may 
also  generate  good-will,  or  keep  interest  alive  until  the 
salesman  can  call,  or  until  the  addressee  goes  to  a  retail 
store,  if  the  product  is  one  sold  through  retailers.  Almost 
every  one  of  the  first  seven  purposes  may  be  augmented  or 
modified  by  the  eighth  aim — strategy. 


Fig.  51. — The  first  card  in  a  "teaser"  campaign  illus- 
trates the  use  of  imitation  handwriting  in  a  piece  of 
direct  advertising.  It  was  reproduced  from  what  is 
known  as  a  zinc  etching.     See  Section  30G. 

Fig.  51  illustrates  the  reverse  of  a  United  States  govern- 
ment postal  card  received  by  the  author  upon  one  occasion. 
It  is  a  facsimile  hand-written  message  and,  you  will  note, 
entirely  without  a  clue  as  to  its  origin.  It  reached  the  ad- 
dressee about  December  20th. 


216         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

About  a  week  later  a  broadside  came  to  ray  desk  bearing 
on  the  upper  left-hand  corner  in  script  (imitation  writing)  : 

"Ten  thousand  people  wish  to  know  M ,"  and  after 

the  ''M"  was  my  name  and  under  that  were  the  firm  name 
and  address. 

Unfolding  the  broadside,  which  was  entirely  blank  on  the 
first  opening,  except  for  these  words : 

"Now  here's  the  story," 
I  came  upon  an  elaborate  two-color  broadside  telling  me 
that  10,000  people  wished  to  know  me  on  January  5th.  and 
that  they  were  the  live  shoe  merchants  of  America.  Next, 
naturally,  the  way  to  meet  them  was  through  the  publica- 
tions advertised! 

This  illustrates  the  use  of  direct  advertising  in  the  usual 
way  plus  unusual  strategy.  The  preliminary  "teaser" 
postal  card  was  a  stratagem  to  gain  attention.  This  cam- 
paign mailed  to  1,000  names  brought  67  replies  and  9  con- 
tracts, which  result  was  very  good  considering  how  hard 
it  is  to  sell  advertising  space  even  in  person. 

In  this  connection  see  reference  in  Section  65  relating  to 
the  use  of  several  stratagem  "teaser"  postals  in  another 
campaign. 

187.  Analysis  of  Market  and  Marketing  Policies  Pre- 
cedes Decision  as  to  Purpose. — Before  you  can  definitely 
decide  which  one  or  more  of  these  purposes  referred  to  in 
Section  186  is  to  be  accomplished  by  the  campaign  under 
advisement,  it  is  generally  necessary  to  stop  and  analyze 
the  prospective  marketer  or  advertiser,  his  business,  and 
his  marketing  policies.  In  many  cases  the  analysis  of  the 
business  and  the  aim  will  be  one  and  the  same.  It  will  also 
be  highly  imperative  to  analyze  the  market  itself — that  is, 
those  who  will  buy  the  product  or  service.  The  study  of 
the  market  embraces  a  study  of  other  products  in  service  on 
the  market  with  which  there  will  be  more  or  less  competition. 

A  decision  to  try  to  pave  the  way  for  salesmen  would 
be  foolish  if  the  advertiser,  marketer,  did  not  have,  nor  ex- 
pect to  have,  salesmen  to  follow  up  the  direct  campaign. 
This  is  an  overdrawn  example  to  make  the  point  clear. 


PLANNING  THE  CAJMPAIGN  217 

Likewise  a  knowledge  of  what  the  advertisers  for  competi- 
tors are  doing  is  often  helpful  in  deciding  upon  a  move  that 
will  offset  their  advantage.  The  flying  start  of  Sears  Roe- 
buck &  Company  has  been  attributed  to  R.  W.  Sears'  de- 
cision to  send  their  catalogue,  costing  $1.00,  free  upon 
request,  at  a  time  when  all  his  competitors  were  proceeding 
on  a  conservative  basis  and  requiring  a  payment  of  ten 
cents  in  advance  to  reimburse  them  in  part  for  postage. 

In  view  of  the  widespread  offering  of  books  and  cata- 
logues, some  firms,  in  order  to  restrict  inquiries  to  those 
who  are  vitally  interested,  place  a  nominal  price  on  their 
pieces  of  direct  advertising.  The  Loose-Wiles  Biscuit  Com- 
pany, for  instance,  charges  5  cents  each  for  a  ''Sunshine 
Fairy  Tale  Booklet,"  It  is  an  out-and-out  advertisement 
for  the  firm,  but  in  fairy-story  form  to  interest  children. 
The  company  reports  having  sold  thousands  of  these  pieces 
at  this  price. 

Procter  &  Gamble  Company,  California  Packing  Corpora- 
tion, Armstrong  Cork  Company,  and  Dennison  Manufac- 
turing Company  are  just  a  few  of  the  national  advertisers 
who  make  a  practice  of  charging  for  their  "service"  book- 
lets; that  is,  booklets  giving  a  real  "service"  to  their  buyers 
and  incidentally  advertising  the  brands  of  their  publish- 
ers, of  course. 

Several  firms  in  the  engineering  and  machinery  field 
publish  regular  catalogues.  These  are  so  full  of  data 
which  cost  a  great  deal  to  secure  that  a  price  is  exacted  for 
hem.  Carnegie  Steel  Company,  for  instance,  published  a 
thin  paper,  leather-bound  book  containing  much  data  of  a 
technical  nature,  which  was  sold  for  $2  per  copy  though  it 
cost  more  than  that  to  produce.  L.  S.  Starrett  Company 
has  published  several  books  of  a  similar  nature,  which  were 
also  priced. 

James  Lees  &  Sons  Company,  yarn  manufacturers,  as 
set  forth  in  Printers'  Ink  for  August  14,  1919,  have  pro- 
duced a  knitting  book  which  is  sold  to  the  user  of  yarns 
through  the  dealer.  The  manufacturer  sells  the  book  at  20 
cents  each  to  the  dealers  and  the  dealer  gets  35  cents  each 


218         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

from  the  user.  This  furnishes  another  aspect  of  price- 
charging. 

The  highest  priced  advertising  book  that  we  know  of  is 
the  portfolio  entitled  "Building  with  Assurance,"  pub- 
lished by  the  Morgan  Sash  &  Door  Company  of  Chicago. 
It  is  priced  at  $2.50.  This  book  is  aimed  for  distribution 
among  the  architects,  builders  and  retail  lumber  dealers  and 
these  classes  are  given  a  limited  number  of  free  copies 
though  the  public  is  required  to  pay  the  full  price.  The 
work,  according  to  Printers'  Ink,  December  2,  1920,  cost 
close  to  $200,000  to  produce. 

Now  and  then  it  will  be  found  advisable  to  have  the 
advertiser  change  some  of  his  business  policies  in  order  to 
give  full  scope  to  the  direct-advertising  campaign.  In 
Section  178,  for  example,  we  read  of  a  slight  change  in 
policy,  suggested  by  the  firm's  advertising  agents,  which 
materially  multiplied  results. 

Warren  R.  Lightfoot,  in  Postage  for  April,  1917,  gives 
as  the  three  fundamentals  of  winning  any  market  for  any 
product : 

1.  A  thorough  understanding  of  the  product. 

2.  A  logical  analysis  of  the  field  in  which  the  product  can 

be  profitably  sold. 

3.  A  complete  outline  of  the  scheme   of  distribution  to  be 

employed  and  the  media  through  which  the  product  is  to 
be  presented. 

By  ''distribution"  is  understood  the  getting  of  the  goods 
or  product,  from  maker  to  buyer,  considered  from  the  mer- 
chandising angle,  and  not  the  actual  transportation.  If  a 
product  is  shipped  direct  from  the  seller  to  the  buyer  with- 
out the  intervention  of  a  salesman  or  other  intermediary, 
that  is  known  as  mail-order  distribution.  If  you  get  your 
product  at  the  retail  store,  it  may  have  passed  direct  from 
the  manufacturer  to  the  retailer,  or  through  the  hands  of 
wholesalers,  or  jobbers,  but  you  know  it  as  "retail  distri- 
bution." In  this  latter  instance,  in  the  casa  of  the  retailer, 
if  it  comes  to  him  through  a  jobber  he  knows  it  as  "whole- 


PLANNING  THE  CAMPAIGN 


219 


The  Market 


sale  distribution"  as  compared  with  "direct-selling"  when 
the  manufacturer  sells  direct  to  the  retailer. 

In  Section  222  (b)  we  shall  elaborate  upon  the  necessity 
of  thoroughly  understanding  the  product ;  we  are  now  pri- 
marily interested  in  an  analysis  of  the  field,  or  market. 

1 88.  Howi  to  Study  the  Market  and  Marketer. — One  of 
the  best  summarizations  for  the  study  of  this  broad  subject, 
the  market  and  the  marketer — the  subject  of  many  com- 
plete books — appeared  in  Printers'  Ink.  It  was  compiled 
by  Clarkson  A.  Collins,  a  New  York  advertising  agent : 

Number  of  actual  consumers. 

Number  of  possible  consumers. 

Actual  consumption  per  capita  or  per  family. 

Possible  consumption  per  capita  or  per  fam- 

iiy. 

Number  of  actual  dealers. 
Number  of  possible  dealers. 
Number  of  actual  jobbers. 
Number  of  possible  jobbers. 
Territorial  distribution  of  above. 

The  number  of  competitors  and  location. 

Their  total  combined  output. 

Their  individual  output. 

The  distribution  of  their  output. 

Their  best  markets  territorially. 

Their  weakest  markets  territorially. 

The  trade  channels  used  by  them. 

Tlieir  manufacturing  methods. 

Their  sales  methods. 

The  prices  of  their  goods. 

The  merits  and  demerits  of  their  goods. 

Cost  of  raw  materials — Compare  with  com- 
petitors. 

Cost  of  manufacturing — Compare  with  com- 
petitors. 

Cost  of  selling — Compare  with  competitors. 

Overhead  charges. 

Where  possible,  a  personal  investigation  of  the  market 
should  be  made,  of  course.     "Where  this  is  out  of  the  cpies- 


The  Competition 


The  Marketer's 
Own  Plant 


220        EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

tion,  a  study  of  the  incoming  orders  and  other  mail  gives 
the  writer  of  direct  advertising  a  fair  idea  of  the  class  of 
people  he  has  to  appeal  to  and  what  they  are  likely  to  need. 

One  specialist  in  preparing  direct  literature  to  sell  deal- 
ers in  small  towns  keeps  on  file  several  snapshots  of  ''typi- 
cal" small-town  stores,  and  looks  at  them  occasionally  to 
refresh  his  mental  vision  of  the  small-town  field. 

Direct  advertising  itself  is  often  used  largely  as  a  study 
of  the  market.  One  national  advertiser  procured  an  ex- 
tremely thorough  and  reliable  research  on  market  con- 
ditions in  his  industry  by  a  planned  campaign  of  direct 
advertising.  The  series  included  personal  letters,  report 
blanks,  stamped  return  envelopes,  follow-up  letters,  and, 
in  order  to  induce  more  prompt  replies,  an  '^'advance  copy" 
of  the  results  of  the  research  of  the  industry  was  offered, 
which,  when  compiled,  was  sent  out. 

189.  How  Marketing  by  Mail  Differs  from  Other 
Forms  of  Marketing. — Mr.  Collins'  study  in  Section  188 
presupposes  marketing  through  wholesale  and  retail  chan- 
nels, of  course.  We  should  note  the  differences  between 
marketing  by  mail  and  marketing  through  other  channels. 
C.  Lee  Downey  analyzes  the  question,  "What  can  be  sold 
by  mail?"  by  asking  four  questions: 

1.  Can  the  article  be  clearly  and  concisely  described  in  a  cir- 

cular or  booklet? 

2.  Can  the  article  be  attractively  and  comprehensively  illus- 

trated? 

3.  Can  samples  be  sent  by  mail? 

4.  Can  the  buyer  conveniently  and  correctly  write  out  an 

order? 

Lack  of  space  forbids  our  going  into  detail  with  this  angle 
here,  but  Mr.  Downey's  able  analysis  will  be  found  in 
Postage  for  July,  1916,  page  23.  It  should  be  stated  that 
he  precedes  the  questions  quoted  by  several  others  aimed 
to  analyze  the  product,  two  of  which  have  a  bearing  upon 
mail-selling:  "Can  competitive  goods  be  procured  from 
local  dealers?"  and  "Can  delivery  be  made  to  the  home  or 


PLANNING  THE  CA^fPAIGN  221 

establishment  of  the  buyer  more  conveniently,  or  in  better 
condition,  than  competing  goods?" 

Novelty,  quality,  and  price  have  been  acclaimed  as  the- 
three  keys  to  mail-order  success  and  the  importance  of  the 
first  order  has  been  emphasized  innumerable  times.  Stories 
have  been  told  how  mail-order  houses  offer  "leaders"  at  a 
heavy  loss  in  order  to  stimulate  custom. 

In  the  main,  therefore,  mail-order  direct  advertising  and 
direct  advertising  for  other  channels  of  distribution  do  not 
materially  differ,  except  in  the  manner  of  actual  ordering  or 
buying  and  actual  distribution.  Richard  Wightman  be- 
fore the  Advertising  Club  of  New  York  said:  "The  two 
great  essentials  of  successful  mail-order  advertising  are 
clarity  and  directness.  Personally,  I  aim  at  giving  my  cus- 
tomer just  two  things  to  do — say  'yes'  and  sign  the  check." 
Producers  of  all  forms  of  direct  advertising  may  well  keep 
these  simple  essentials  before  them. 

190.  Examples  of  Aims  or  Purposes  Referred  to  in 
Section  186. — With  a  brief  resume  of  how  various  firms 
utilize  direct  advertising  for  the  accomplishment  of  the 
eight  general  aims,  or  purposes,  described  in  Section  186, 
we  shall  be  able  to  pass  on  to  the  next  angle  of  analysis. 

Mail-order  houses  use  direct  advertising  to  produce  direct 
lales  and  orders.  Not  only  are  such  concerns  as  Sears 
Roebuck  &  Company,  Montgomery  Ward  &  Company,  and 
others  of  that  class  included,  but  publishers  who  sell  books 
direct  by  mail,  as  well  as  "mail-order"  departments  of  re- 
.ailers,  and  manufacturers  who  solicit  mail-orders  where  not 
already  represented  by  salesmen  or  other  agents. 

Almost  every  user  of  direct  advertising  adopts  it  to  pro- 
duce inquiries;  the  only  possible  exceptions  are  those  who 
appeal  to  a  large  and  widely  diversified  mass. 

As  a  generator  of  good-will,  the  American  Telephone  & 
Telegraph  Company  used  various  forms  of  direct  advertis- 
ing— booklets  telling  of  their  profits  and  how  expended ; 
inclosures  with  bills  that  emphasized  shortage  of  equipment 
during  and  after  the  war.  Many  firms  utilize  a  direct- 
advertising  campaign  solely  to  generate  good-will  without 


222         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

hoping  for  direct  inquiries,  orders,  or  similar  results.  This 
is  not  a  general  rule,, however.  "Discovering  New  Facts 
About  Paper,"  described  in  Section  39,  was  issued  largely 
to  generate  good-will  for  a  paper  manufacturer. 

The  salesman  who  mails  out  an  occasional  piece  of  litera- 
ture between  his  calls  does  so  for  the  purpose  of  keeping 
alive  his  prospects'  interest.  Firms  do  this  frequently, 
and  often  without  hope  of  direct  inquiries. 

Every  form  of  advertiser  uses  direct  advertising  to  sup- 
plement publicity  where  any  publicity  is  used,  such  as  mag- 
azines, newspapers,  street-car  cards,  and  so  on. 

The  Todd  Protectograph  Company  and  the  National 
Cash  Register  Company  stand  at  the  forefront  in  the  use 
of  direct  advertising  to  pave  the  way  for  their  salesmen. 
Used  in  this  manner  direct  advertising  shortens  the  time 
necessary  for  a  salesman's  call  and  thus  reduces  selling 
expense. 

Firms  selling  through  dealers  are  large  users  of  direct 
advertising  in  order  to  secure  lists  from  both  wholesale  and 
retail  distributors.  Direct  advertising  is  also  used  to  cor- 
rect lists. 

A  Southern  merchant  early  in  the  fall  of  1920  found  him- 
self overloaded  with  men's  clothing.  He  realized  that  to 
make  a  special  sale  announcement  in  the  morning  paper 
would  bring  on  a  similar  or  better  one  in  the  afternoon 
papers  from  one  or  more  competitors.  Direct  advertising 
was  therefore  chosen  to  carry  a  private  announcement  to  a 
large  list  of  possible  prospects.  The  special  sale  was  al- 
most a  secret — direct  advertising  had  been  chosen  because 
of  its  peculiar  strategic  value. 

19 1.  Analysis  of  Appeal  to  Be  Used. — If  you  were 
going  to  call  on  a  minister  of  the  gospel  to  sell  him  your 
product  you  would  be  careful  of  your  dress,  your  speech, 
"and  you  would  try  to  appeal  to  this  particular  minister. 
If  you  were  trying  to  secure  his  interest  (order,  inquiry, 
or  the  like)  by  direct  advertising  you  should  follow  as 
careful  a  procedure. 

The  example  is  an  extremely  simple  one  to  indicate  the 


PLANNING  THE  CAJVIPAIGN  223 

necessity  for  studying  several  angles  of  appeal.  For  all 
practical  purposes  the  appeal  in  direct  advertising  is  made 
either  mentally,  or  mechanically,  or  by  an  admixture  of 
both  approaches. 

These  appeals  are  made  in  three  ways : 

1.  By  "copy,"  language  used,  including  personalization  of 

the  appeal, 

2.  By  "illustrations,"  the  pictorial  treatment. 

3.  By  the   "display,"   including   headlines,   color,   captions, 

typography,  etc. 

These  three  main  methods  of  appeal  vary  with  the  differ- 
ent people  to  whom  they  are  addressed.  An  appeal  to 
juveniles  is  naturally  different  from  that  made  to  their 
elders.  It  takes  a  different  appeal  to  reach  women  buy- 
ers than  it  does  to  reach  men;  factory  hands  and  factory 
engineers;  and  so  on  through  the  gamut. 

In  some  instances,  as  we  shall  see  in  Chapter  XV,  the 
paper  stock  upon  which  the  appeal  is  made  may  be  called 
upon  to  assist  in  making  the  right  appeal.  Since  this  fac- 
tor is  not  so  generally  recognized,  and  because  some  appeals 
seem  equally  successful  on  any  one  of  several  paper  stocks, 
we  shall  not  go  further  into  this  angle  now. 

A  strategy  of  appeal  that  should  be  used  wherever  pos- 
sible is  that  of  sampling.  In  fact  one  national  producer 
of  direct  advertising  makes  this  statement:  "We  have 
tried  the  sampling  method  on  everything  from  automobile 
tires  to  paper-shell  pecans,  with  equal  success  on  each  of 
them  and  all  items  in  between.  If  more  users  of  direct 
advertising  were  to  try  the  sampling  method,  the  results 
would  be  far  greater  and  more  advertising  would  be  used." 

Where  the  product  itself  cannot  be  sampled,  parts  of  it 
may  be  sampled  (see  Section  445)  ;  where  not  even  parts 
can  be  sampled,  novelties  may  be  made  up  to  suggest  the 
product;  and  every  effort  should  be  made  to  find  some 
method  of  making  the  appeal  tangible  to  the  prospect. 
You  can  talk  a  week  about  the  fine  rubber  in  the  golf  balls 
you  make,  when  one  sample  ball  would  prove  your  point  at 
comparatively  small  expense. 


224         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Among  the  things  that  the  writer  found  being  success- 
ully  sampled,  in  the  preparation  of  an  article  for  a  direct- 
advertising  publication  were :  screen  wire,  malted  milk, 
corduroy  for  men's  trousers,  wallboard,  hay,  chewing  gum, 
book  binding,  suit-case  materials,  together  with  such  easily 
sampled  products  as  paper,  printing,  poster  stamps,  and  a 
myriad  of  articles  of  this  nature. 

Since  the  ultimate  in  direct  advertising  is  the  utmost  per- 
sonal appeal  that  can  be  made  between  two  persons,  it  logi- 
cally follows  that  the  style  of  appeal  is  highly  important 
and  must  be  based  almost  entirely  upon  knowledge  of  the 
person,  or  persons,  addressed.  To  clarify:  any  one  of  our 
leading  magazines  may  have  on  its  subscription  lists  the 
butcher,  baker,  and  electric-light  maker.  In  writing 
"copy"  (the  technical  term  for  the  written  content  of  an 
advertisement)  to  appeal  to  the  subscribers  of  that  publi- 
cation you  would  try  to  make  the  appeal  such  that  it  would 
reach  closest  home  to  the  largest  number  possible.  In  the 
case  of  using  direct  advertising,  you  would  write  one 
"copy"  appeal  to  reach  the  butcher,  another  to  the  baker, 
and  a  third  to  impress  the  electric-light  maker.  To  the 
first  you  might  talk  the  language  of  the  ice  box;  to  the 
second,  the  oven,  and  the  third  ohms,  amperes,  currents, 
and  similar  terminology  which  would  be  familiar  to  the 
electric-light  company  or  person  with  an  electric-light  com- 
pany. 

In  appealing  to  a  dealer  your  "copy"  would  differ  ma- 
terially from  an  appeal  to  the  user.  In  the  first  case  you 
might  talk  "quick  turn-overs,"  "long  profits,"  and  other 
monetary  appeals,  while  to  the  user  you  might  talk  of  "long 
wear,"  "no  repairs,"  "time-saving,"  and  similar  indirect 
money  appeals.  The  product  sold  would  be  unchanged,  yet 
the  appeal  would  be  radically  changed. 

The  actual  writing  of  "copy"  will  be  taken  up  in  Chap- 
ter X.  What  we  want  to  emphasize  here  is  the  necessity 
of  analyzing  the  product  and  the  prospect  and  the  planning 
of  an  appeal  which  is  "the  one  best  method." 

The  analysis  of  your  average  prospect  is  closely  inter- 


PLANNING  THE  CAMPAIGN  225 

twined  with  an  analysis  of  your  market.  John  C.  White- 
side, advertising  manager  of  the  Patterson-Kelley  Com- 
pany, water  heating  engineers.  New  York,  has  "gotten 
away"  with'  a  series  of  "jazz"  letters  in  appealing  to 
average  laundry-owners.  If  he  wished  to  appeal  to  war- 
made  millionaires  recently  moving  to  Fifth  Avenue  he 
would  have  used  a  much  more  dignified  appeal  even  though 
they  were  the  same  persons  originally  addressed  in  the 
slangy  series  quoted  in  Section  409  a. 

The  man  who  is  responsible  for  planning  a  direct-adver- 
tising campaign  must  study  at  first  hand  the  average  pros- 
pect. You  cannot  with  the  aid  of  Roget's  Thesaurus  and 
some  out-of-date  "literature"  build  a  result-bringing  cam- 
paign. 

You  must  see  the  product  made  if  possible,  study  all 
about  its  raw  materials  and  methods  of  manufacture. 
Then  see  the  product  in  use  or  operation  if  possible.  Talk 
with  a  sufficient  number  of  possible  buyers  to  form  a  reli- 
able gauge  of  the  average  "prospect"   (see  Section  222). 

With  this  knowledge  of  prospect  and  product  you  can 
then  plan  a  campaign  that  will  turn  the  prospect  into  a 
purchaser. 

192.  Effective  Campaigns  Are  Campaigns  Which  Make 
a  Personalized  Appeal. — There  is  no  "prestige"  about  the 
average  piece  of  direct  advertising  or  regular  campaign. 
It  has  to  stand  or  fall  on  its  merits.  The  "personalized" 
appeal  is  the  effective  one  in  direct  advertising,  always. 

The  first  and  as  yet  primary  method  of  personalizing  the 
appeal  is  illustrated  by  the  circular  or  "form"  letter,  with 
the  name  and  address  of  the  prospect  "filled-in  to  match." 

Fig.  11  D  is  an  example  of  a  form  letter  filled  in  to  match. 
Note  in  this  case  that  neither  name  of  individual  nor  de- 
partment has  been  filled  in.  The  firm  addressed  receives 
hundreds  of  letters  daily  and  the  mail  clerk  had  to  use 
his  own  judgment,  after  opening  the  envelope,  in  determin- 
ing where  to  send  this  circular  letter.  This  is  the  lowest 
form  of  personalization. 

Finding  out  the  name  and  initials  of  the  advertising  man- 


226         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


ager  and  filling  them  in  would  have  made  Fig.  11  D  more 
personal. 

Fig.  11  B  illustrates  the  strictly  personal  appeal.    This 
example  is  personally  typewritten,  though  it  was  probably 


PINING  OP 
FOR  YOMR 

WINTER 
PLOWING 


■"V 


Fig.  52. — Two  different  personalized  appeals  are  made  in  this 
cut.  In  the  one,  hand-lettering  is  used;  in  the  other,  both  firm- 
name  and  individual  name  are  printed. 

sent  to  a  fairly  large  list  of  prospects,  only  the  name  and 

address  being  changed. 

Fig,  52  illustrates  the  use  of  the  personal  appeal  in  the 

ease  of  printed  direct  advertising,  not  letters.     In  one  of 


PLANNING  THE  CAMPAIGN  227 

these  the  words  "for  Robert  E,  Ramsay"  have  been  filled 
in  with  a  pen  and  ink,  thouj^h  not  noticeable  as  such  with- 
out a  careful  examination.     In  the  other,  "Art  ^letal  Con- 


Fiflh  Aoenue,  WalSide,  Corner  ^3 5th  Slrctl 


lit,  "Mt    £oujUL  .     loi^t  iJt^tJUf 
OatA  UA^  ^  Oft    OrOt:A*A  'y^tA- 


Fig.  53. — Here  you  see  in  full  size  the  birthday  greeting 
which  a  large  New  York  retailer  sends  out  to  his  customers' 
children  when  they  reach  the  age  of  two.  It  is  printed  on  a 
sheet  twice  the  size  shown,  folded  once  like  personal  station- 
ery, and  mailed  in  an  envelope  half  the  size  of  sheet  shown 
here. 

struction  Company"  and  "Mr.   Lyons"   have  both  been 

filled  in  with  printed  characters.     See  also  Fig:.  132. 

These  methods  of  personalizing  are  by  u.se  of  name  and 

firm  name.     Other  methods  of  personalizing  the  appeal  are 


228         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

by  birthday,  wedding  anniversary,  and  the  like,  as  well  as 
by  business;  by  vocation;  by  sex;  also  appealing  indus- 
trially ;  or  geographically,  by  town,  city,  state,  section,  na- 
jon,  or  even  hemisphere.  Fig.  53  illustrates  the  birthday 
ippeal  of  a  New  York  retailer.     See  also  Section  196, 

The  appeal  directed  to  a  single  individual,  addressed  to 
him,  marks  the  one  extreme  in  personalization,  and  the 
appeal  to  every  one  in  a  hemisphere  marks  the  other. 

193.  Does  It  Pay  to  Personalize  the  Appeal? — No  con- 
vention or  group  of  two  or  more  advertisers  ever  assembled 
to  discuss  direct  advertising  even  indirectly  without  asking 
this  ever-present  question:  "Does  it  pay  to  personalize?" 
It  costs  more  money,  of  course,  to  fill  in  the  name  and  ad- 
Iress,  likewise  more  money,  proportionately,  to  make 
printed-appeal  personalizations  such  as  denoted  in  Figs. 
52  and  132.  No  general  reply  can  be  given  to  this  ques- 
tion. The  one  sure  way  is  to  test  it  and  find  out  for  your- 
self whether  it  pays. 

Charles  W,  Hoyt,  a  New  York  advertising  agent,  author 
of  "Scientific  Sales  Management"  (which  deals  largely 
with  the  use  of  direct  advertising  in  handling  salesmen 
successfully),  in  speaking  before  the  Toronto  convention 
of  the  Associated  Advertising  Clubs  of  the  World,  in  re- 
sponse to  a  direct  question,  reported  a  test  case  of  1,000  let- 
ters which  were  carefully  filled  in  and  mailed  out  under 
two-cent  postage,  and  of  1,000  not  filled  in  and  mailed 
under  one-cent  stamp.  The  former  produced  14  per  cent 
replies,  the  latter  only  2  per  cent.  In  this  case  the  letter 
not  filled  in  was  sent  to  the  same  list  and  as  a  follow-up. 
The  letter  was  purposed  to  sell  a  book. 

0,  C.  Harn,  of  the  National  Lead  Company,  who  followed 
Mr.  Hoyt,  told  of  a  test  of  three  lists  of  5,000  each,  one 
piece  being  an  ordinary  printed  circular,  another  a  filled- 
in  letter,  and  the  third  a  non-filled-in  letter.  In  this  test 
the  printed  circular  won  by  a  large  percentage. 

These  two  instances  show  how  wide  a  variance  there  may 
be  when  the  testing  is  handled  by  experts  in  their  line  as 
Messrs.  Hoyt  and  Harn  are;  at  the  same  time  they  serve  to 


PLANNING  THE  CAMPAIGN  229 

reemphasize  our  solicitation  that  every  direct  advertiser 
make  tests  for  his  own  benefit  on  this  oft-discussed  subject 
of  "fill-in  versus  non-fill-in." 

One  of  the  big  motor-car  companies  made  a  very  careful 
test  as  to  the  value  of  making  the  printed  personalization. 
The  concern  found  that  it  paid  and  paid  handsomely. 
Sales  were,  in  fact,  made  at  a  cost  of  7  per  cent. 

It  is  certain  in  the  case  of  filled-in  form  letters  that  unless 
the  fill-in  of  the  form  letter  is  properly  done  it  is  almost 
useless,  excepting  perhaps  when  the  class  of  people  ad- 
dressed is  not  familiar  with  modern  methods  of  letter  dupli- 
cation and  therefore  unlikely  to  notice  the  failure  of  fill-in 
and  body  of  letter  to  match  properly.  On  this  filling-in  of 
form  letters  see  Section  333. 

Whether  or  not  any  form  of  advertising  pays  can  be 
proved,  in  many  cases,  only  by  tests,  and  no  general  rules 
can  be  laid  down  as  to  "personalizing."  It  depends  upon 
margin  of  profit,  class  appealed  to,  perfection  of  the  fill-in, 
what  others  are  doing  in  the  same  field ;  in  short,  on  many 
things,  though  as  long  as  personal  letters  are  held  in  the 
high  esteem  that  they  are,  the  more  nearly  you  can  "per- 
sonalize" your  message  the  more  certain  will  it  meet  suc- 
cess, all  other  things  being  equal. 

194.  Variations  of  the  Personal  Appeal. — An  examina- 
tion of  Figs.  10  and  HE  will  show  variations  of  the  per- 
sonal appeal.  In  one  case  "Good  Morning!"  takes  the 
place  of  a  fill-in,  and  in  the  other  case  "Dear  Reader"  is 
used.     Sometimes  letters  are  addressed  this  way: 

To    the   President 

of  the  Advertising 

Club  Addressed: 

which  does  away  with  necessity  for  fill-in  and  yet  has  a 
partly  personal  appeal. 

One  automobile  firm  increased  its  sales  by  a  booklet  ad- 
vertising the  use  of  its  car  by  doctors.  Such  a  booklet 
appealing  to  a  single  profession  was  personal  to  that  pro- 
fession and  naturally  more  successful  than  a  general  book- 
let would  have  been. 


230         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

One  truck  manufacturer  got  up  a  series  of  booklets  en- 
titled "Motor  Trucks  for  Municipalities,"  "Building 
Better  Highways,"  "Speed  up  the  Coal  Deliveries,"  and 
the  like.  Each  booklet  appealed  to  some  one  personalized 
group. 

Another  varied  this  appeal  by  contriving  the  series  illus- 
trated on  Fig.  54.  A  bottling  house  receiving  a  book  ad- 
dressed to  the  business  it  represented  would  feel  that  it  was 
PERSONAL,  naturally. 

One  of  the  specialty  manufacturers  effects  a  degree  of 
PERSONALIZATION  by  having  a  large  number  of  booklets 
(over  200  in  fact)  covering  a  wide  range  of  businesses  the 
locations  of  which  are  scattered  geographically.  Then  an 
inquirer  receives  the  booklet  about  the  business  that  is 
located  nearest  to  the  inquirer  from  the  geographical  stand- 
point or  from  at  least  a  firm  in  the  same  line  of  business. 

Fig.  55  A  shows  another  method  of  dodging  the  neces- 
sity of  having  a  fill-in,  and  yet  to  the  one  who  does  not  stop 
to  analyze  the  letter  has  an  appearance  of  being  addressed 
to  some  one.  This  is  a  clever  form  of  appeal  which  is 
strictly  relevant,  and  Mr.  Sherbow  says  that  this  particular 
circular  was  very  productive. 

Fig.  55  B  illustrates  still  another  method  of  varying 
the  fill-in,  the  words :  ' '  The  Fitzgerald  Book  &  Art  Com- 
pany, of  Holyoke,"  being  filled  in  instead  of  the  prospect's 
name  and  address.  This  gives  the  addressee  exact  informa- 
tion as  to  where  the  book  described  can  be  purchased  and 
although  obviously  a  circular  it  suggests  to  the  recipient 
that  the  sender  thought  more  of  serving  the  prospect  than 
of  selling  him.  If  more  letters  sent  out  in  response  to 
direct  incjuiries  were  filled  in  this  manner  I  believe  more 
prospects  would  be  impressed.  As  a  rule  the  place  where 
you  can  buy  the  phonograph  or  potato  masher  you  saw 
advertised  and  for  the  details  of  which  you  wrote,  is  tacked 
on  the  bottom  of  a  long  form  letter  as  if  an  afterthought 
(see  Fig.  59  A). 

The  expense  element  of  personalizing  a  printed  direct  ad- 
vertising appeal,  such  as  those  used  by  the  jMarraon  auto- 


Fi<r.   ■>4. — irpro  are  four  of  a   scrios  of  hooklcls  |tcrsonali/('(l   by 
industries.     These   are    piihlislu'd    liy    llie    Tackaid    Motor   Car   lo. 


PLANNING  THE  CAMPAIGN 


231 


mobile  makers,  will  be  interesting.  Their  Mr.  Rogers  in 
speaking  at  the  Detroit  convention  said  their  list  cost  them 
between  three  and  four  cents  per  name  to  personalize  by 
printing  the  name  and  address  on  both  the  letter  and  en- 
velope. 


Fig.  55. — Two  different  methods  of  giving  a  letter  a  personal 
touch  without  filling  in  name  and  address  of  the  recipient,  a  prac- 
tice which  is  overdone  in  many  cases.  A.  Appears  as  if  filled  in; 
is  novel  without  being  too  clever.  It  produced  good  results.  B. 
Serves  the  prospect  and  is  therefore  efTective. 

Consider  it  from  the  mail-order  angle.  Here  is  a  Mont- 
gomery Ward  &  Company  catalogue.  It  measures  9^4  x 
131^  inches.  It  contains  1038  pages.  Yet  they  get  over  a 
personalized  appeal  in  this  manner :     Page  1030  is  headed : 

SPECIAL    CATALOGUES    THAT    OFFER 
FURTHER  THRIFT  OPPORTUNITIES 

No  fewer  than  nine  additional  catalogues  are  pictured 
and  offered  on  that  page.  There  is  a  catalogue  on  "Auto 
Supplies,"  one  on  "Plumbing,"  a  third  on  "Lighting  Fix- 
tures," a  fourth  on  "Groceries,"  a  fifth  offers  "Over  100 


232         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

generous  samples  of  Wall  Papers,"  a  sixth  is  restricted  to 
''Monuments"  (Tombstones),  the  seventh  is  a  beautiful 
piece  of  direct  advertising  offering  "Windsor  Pianos  and 
Player  Pianos,"  the  eighth  is  a  "Paint"  catalogue,  and  the 
ninth  "Electric  Light  and  Power  for  Country  Places." 

All  of  these  lines  are  listed  in  the  big  (main)  catalogue  to 
be  sure,  but  these  keen  merchandisers  realize,  that,  for  ex- 
ample, their  few  pages  on  pianos  and  player  pianos  printed 
on  cheap  news  stock  would  not  stand  up  well  against 
specific  (personalized)  appeals  of  companies  specializing  in 
these  products — hence  the  specific  catalogues.  In  offering 
these  personalized  catalogues  note  this  copy: 

You  may  have  any  of  our  special  catalogues  free  of  charge 
by  simply  writing  us  a  postcard  telling  which  ones  you  want 
or  by  checking  them  on  the  handy  coupon  on  pages  1031 
and  1037  of  this  book. 

Before  ordering  Special  Catalogues,  however,  please  make 
sure  that  what  you  want  is  not  listed  in  tliis  big  catalogue. 
Consult  the  Index  Pages;  usually  you  will  find  just  what 
you  want  and  can  order  without  delay. 

In  some  lines  our  stocks  are  too  large  to  list  completely  in 
this  big  catalogue  so  we  show  only  those  items  frequently 
called  for.  The  others  we  show  in  the  Special  Catalogues 
devoted  to  these  particular  lines. 

You  will  find  our  prices  in  special  catalogues  are  just  as 
low  as  in  this  big  book.  Always  we  aim  to  save  you  money. 
And  of  course  our  guarantee  of  "Satisfaction  or  Your  Money 
Back"  applies  to  everything  we  sell. 

Making  the  booklet  or  other  piece  appeal  to  one  of  the 
sexes  is,  of  course,  elementary,  but  changing  that  appeal  to 
sex  to  apply  to  the  slim,  stout,  short,  fat,  aged,  or  the  youth- 
ful, as  the  case  may  be,  makes  the  direct  advertising  more 
successful  simply  because  it  is  more  personal. 

It  is  a  fundamental  law  of  nature  that  self-interest  is  im- 
planted in  all  of  us;  in  some  more  strongly  than  in  others, 
to  be  sure,  but  we  all  respond  to  that  which  most  affects 
us  selfishly. 

It  is  upon  this  law  that  personalization  is  based.     In- 


PLANNING  THE  CAMPAIGN  233 

numerable  changes  can  be  rung  upon  the  subject;  indeed, 
the  field  has  hardly  been  touched  as  yet  by  shrewd  direct 
advertisers,  A  mailing  piece  specifically  aimed  at  every 
inhabitant  in  the  state  of  South  Carolina  starts  on  its  way, 
when  addressed  to  South  Carolineans,  with  a  fair  chance 
of  attention.  Mail  that  same  piece  to  South  Dakota  and  it 
will  fail  utterly.  But  you  can  make  a  piece  that  will 
appeal  to  the  farmers  in  both  states  by  making  your  per- 
sonalization upon  that  angle.  It  will  lack  strength,  how- 
ever, because  the  farming  activities  in  the  two  states  have 
little  in  common. 

You  can  address  people  in  the  South,  the  East,  the  New 
England  states,  and  even  all  the  people  of  the  United  States 
and  appeal  in  some-  degree  to   personal    (self-)    interest. 

Salesmen's  advance  cards,  as  well  as  mailing  pieces  to  be 
followed  up  by  salesmen,  are  often  personalized  by  imprint- 
ing upon  them  a  picture  of  the  salesman  who  will  call  (see 
Fig.  64). 

Pieces  sent  to  dealers  have  been  personalized  by  the  use 
of  their  own  photographs,  pictures  of  their  stores  or  win- 
dows, and  even  by  the  use  of  pictorial  representations  of 
the  city  or  town  in  which  they  are  located. 

195.  In  Most  Cases  Syndicated  is  the  Opposite  of  Per- 
sonalized Direct  Advertising. — Syndicated  direct  advertis- 
ing, in  almost  every  case,  is  the  opposite  of  personalized 
direct  advertising. 

A  personalized  piece  approaches  individuality,  while  the 
syndicated  piece  is  so  general  as  to  appeal  to  as  many  dif- 
ferent people  as  possible. 

On  Fig.  25  is  an  example  of  a  piece  of  syndicated  direct 
advertising.  Its  content  is  so  general,  based  entirely  upon 
the  presidential  political  fight  of  1920,  that  it  could  be  used 
by  manufacturer,  retailer,  wholesaler ;  in  every  line  of  busi- 
ness. Fig.  56  illustrates  the  six  pages  of  a  syndicated 
iuclosure  for  business  colleges. 

On  Fig.  43,  on  the  other  hand,  is  shown  a  booklet  about 
milk.  This  particular  piece  does  not  happen  to  be  syndi- 
cated, but  it  will  serve  to  illustrate  our  point.     The  booklet 


234 


EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


referred  to  was  put  out  in  Massachusetts.  With  no  change 
other  than  that  of  the  firm  name  and  address  it  could  be 
used  almost  as  well  by  any  other  good  dairy  in  any  part 
of  the  country. 


'Ilicil.  Iim.  III! 
1t»  fX|itft  niiiiT  fnim  tint  sthiKiJ  tlmn 
jiLsl  r,U-liiiKrn|ilitT\  or  iKHikU-cjicni  «r 
flirk.H.  Otir  }{ni(liiutc«  hnvc  ftrvcn  in 
n  nimluliiin  fnr  Iniiiiiiiii  real  lliiiiiKiii 
Men  1111,1  lliisliK^  \V..iiicli-cn|iiiMi: 
■  •r  ilcciilinM  uiitl  iif  ui'tiiiK  (i|M'ii  the  (kx-i* 

Sri/v  litis  ti|i|N>rtiiiiity  to  ^tt  ahciul. 
(live  yiHimclr  an  exexnittvc's  lniiiiinj(. 
Ili-miiic  one  or  'IIiiim;  iiiiniK  wJKwc 
jliiljnniTiln  evuitlii  fiir  mhndhinff. 

Si-nil  ill  voiirii|i|)liLiitii>ii  iiiiw—  0  liny 
•aviil  at  tilt'  utart  in  a  iliiy  auicil  at  the 
fitii>li.    Kii  lininlnli  voiit  ilmiliiii  into 

artiiiii.    Moke  it  ei t-   ami  oe'll  lielp 

voii  to  iiial>e>  riitiiiv  ttceisiiiiis  lirin)C 
as  iiineli  k"""!  "iieeew  bihI  iini!i|ierity. 

'"Itie  ik-eiiioii  timt  (luy^  ia  the  iiiio 


Thorough  coukses 
f{ec(x;niz>»  facilities 
y^ccw.ditkd  mktiiods 
Jndiv'idual  aitkntion 
^otablis  faculty 
Jnuividuai.  progress 

NoTF.WOHTIiy  GHADUAl-ES 
QlOWINC  SUCCESS 


I  HAVE  DECIDED" 


•*W  Y  *^S.  WK  ACCKPT  your  prop- 
^k/  dsition,"  anj  the  talesman 
H^     chccrfuJIy  closed  his  portfolio. 

^     Hi*  mIc  w«s  m.Je. 
The  maitajicr  in  makins  thr  purdmsc' 
did  not  havff  tn  hesitate,  nor  ask  advice.' 
Hu  keen  sense  of  st-leetJnn.  l>aekcd  bv 

Kdgment  and  experience,  decidri. 
avinK  decided  it  was  natural  to  ad. 

A  dmaioD  that  payB  (nuat  be  one 
that  is  followed  b>  artion.  This  is  a 
biismciiS  nilc — commonly  accepted  and 
generally  oltservcd,  I'litil  ■  decision 
is  translated  into  action  it  is  as  useless 
as  a  machine  wJUiout  power. 

You  have  the  ability  to  decide— 
which  Irainiiiji  will  ilcvclopand  cxi»eri' 
ence  luake  sure  It  ii  the  most  valuable 
faculty  a  Ihmidcu  niati  or  woman  can 


possess— providing  the  decisions  made 
hcctimc  |*uteiit  tltau  action. 

•nlancs  to  executives,  who  arc  nolhmR 
more  than  persons  Iramcii  lo  decide  and 
to  bee  that  action  follows  the  decision. 
ViUl  affajrs  are  entrusted  to  these 
executives — whose  dnrisions  will  be 
ri^flit  and  whose  judj^nfenls  ran-ly,  if 
ever,  fait.  T>icy  shoulder  heavy  re- 
S)Miii*iihdity     and    consequently     com- 


workfTS  who  decide  but  IimV  the 
courage  or  initiative  to  act.  The  lop 
ranks  are  full  of  rxeciitivcs — people 
who  do  thmgi  and  who  act. 

Tins  school  pives  tiaininj;  to  individ- 
uals—not to  classes  U'h.lc  there  are 
class  iKMods.  of  course,  the   work-  of 

■ery    individual   student 


and  la 


Yoii  must  rc«h-/c  the  hmadcr  oppor- 
tunities of  business  work.  'Vht  eareert 
of  the  biggest  nicn  and  women  in  the 
»vf)i  Id  prrlce  beyuiid  a  ijucstion  of  doubt 
that  it  doesn't  mailer  whert  you  gtnrt 
so  lonji  as  Tftii  can  make  the  riKlit  dcci- 
sionandthenneftm;/  The  lower  ranks 
are    full   of  smart  men   and  women- 


propress  recorded,  and  individual  m* 
ods  bruu;;ht  lo  bear 

UTiy  IS  this  done'  It  is  more  costl; 
it  requires  iimre  teachen.  and  m 
painstakiiiji  effort. 

Simply  bccattsei — when  yoii  r 
out  tu  take  a  pood  pn«iti 


100  percent  Tn 


»dl  1 


ed      You 


nil  I 


Fig.    56. — An   example   of    syndicated   direct   advertising.     See   text 

for  details. 

At  Christmas,  graduation,  and  other  occasions  when  gifts 
are  presented  retailers  frequently  use  booklets  and  other 
pieces  of  direct  advertising  which  have  been  syndicated. 


PLANNING  THE  CAMPAIGN  235 

The  "copy"  for  these  is  always  made  sufficiently  general — 
which  is  its  weakness,  of  course — so  that  the  druggist  in 
New  Market,  Ohio,  can  use  them  as  well  as  the  pharmacy 
in  New  York,  New  York. 

Direct  advertising  to  reach  banks'  customers  is  probably 
the  most  generally  syndicated,  because  "thrift"  has  a  uni- 
versal appeal  in  the  first  place,  and,  secondly,  because  a  list 
of  banks  (about  30,000)  is  so  easily  secured. 

Florists,  dentists,  etc.,  have  used  syndicated  house  organs 
to  advantage. 

196.  Timing  the  Appeal. — It  stands  to  reason  that  an 
appeal  to  sell  ice  in  New  England  stands  a  much  better 
chance  of  success  if  made  in  the  summer  time,  despite  the 
fact  that  a  few  families  may  take  ice  all  winter.  This  is  an 
elementary  form  of  "timing"  the  appeal;  reaching  the 
prospect  at  the  obvious  time  of  realizing  a  need. 

Analysis  shows  us  that  your  direct  advertising  appeal 
may  be  timed: 

1.  As  to  hour  of  delivery. 

2.  "  day  " 

3.  "  month  " 

4.  "  season  " 

5.  "  event — birth,  death,  wedding,  fire,  promotion,  etc., 

or  coupled  with  a  holiday,  or  nation-wide  adver- 
tised "week,"  etc. 

In  the  case  of  the  hour  and  day  delivery  the  close  coop- 
eration of  the  post-office  department  is  necessary,  and  fre- 
quently it  cannot  be  secured  for  obvious  reasons. 

The  planning  of  a  campaign  so  as  to  reach  the  prospect 
at  a  certain  season,  during  a  certain  month,  or  preceding  or 
following  a  certain  event — birth,  death,  wedding,  gradua- 
tion, fire,  promotion  to  a  new  job,  etc., — is  of  course  easily 
accomplished  and  self-explanatory :  Tliis  is  also  a  method 
of  PERSONALIZING  the  appeal.     Compare  with  Section  194. 

Timing  the  appeal  by  the  event  is  largely  used  by  retail- 
ers because  manufacturers  and  others  located  at  a  distance 
are  unable  to  tie  up  their  appeals  with  events  while  the 


236        EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

events  are  still  timely,  unless,  of  course,  they  plan  their 
appeal  far  enough  in  advance  to  anticipate  known  events. 
They  cannot  anticipate  events  like  ''card  parties," 
"deaths,"  "promotions,"  and  so  on.  In  connection  with 
this  read  Section  465  telling  of  successful  timed  appeals 
of  retailers.  One  shrewd  campaign  planner  uses  the 
weather  reports  to  "time"  his  appeals  by  making  personal 
references  to  wind  or  rain  in  the  home  town  of  the  ad- 
dressee. 

More  and  more  are  national  advertisers  making  use  of 
the  "week"  and  "month"  idea.  We  have  national  "apple 
week,"  "sausage  week,"  "straw-hat  day,"  and  many  others 
too  numerous  to  mention.  All  of  these  occasions  offer 
splendid  opportunities  for  the  manufacturer,  wholesaler, 
and  retailer  to  get  out  timed  direct  advertising. 

Holidays  such  as  Easter  and  Christmas  offer  easy  meth- 
ods of  timing  appeals,  though  it  should  be  noted  that  ex- 
perienced mail-order  concerns  have  found  that  the  buying 
public  does  not  anticipate  Easter,  for  example,  though  the 
public  plan  for  and  anticipate  Christmas.  For  further  de- 
tails on  this  particular  point  see  Printers'  lyik,  April  4, 
1918,  page  99,  though  this  paragraph  summarizes  what  is 
set  forth  therein:  "Numberless  mail-order  gift  houses 
have  issued  catalogues  of  birthday  gifts,  some  of  them  very 
handsome  affairs  with  pages  for  records  of  birthdays,  etc. 
But  these  booklets  seldom  if  ever  pay  for  themselves  be- 
cause they  are  bucking  that  same  buying  habit." 

It  should  also  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  time  of  produc- 
tion and  mailing  of  a  direct-advertising  campaign  is  a 
strong  point  in  its  favor.  W.  G.  Clifford,  in  "Building 
your  Business  by  Mail,"  cites  a  most  interesting  example  of 
a  wholesaler  who  at  two-thirty  one  afternoon  received  in- 
formation of  the  reduction  in  price  of  a  much-used  staple 
article.  By  five  that  same  afternoon  he  had  mailed  1,200 
postal  cards,  after  having  had  them  printed  and  addressed, 
notifying  the  dealers  of  a  special  offer  on  this  item.  It  was 
ten  days  before  the  firm's  competitors  awakened  to  the  sit- 
uation and  reduced  their  prices.     Being  tlie  producer  as 


PLANNING  THE  CAMPAIGN  237 

well  as  distributor  of  the  medium  gives  the  advertiser  a 
strong  advantage.  Had  this  wholesaler  referred  to  desired 
to  use  newspapers,  or  trade-papers  in  that  section,  days, 
even  weeks,  would  have  gone  by  before  the  advertising 
could  have  appeared.  This  single  instance  of  the  value  of 
TIME  in  the  direct-advertising  campaign  will  serve  to  show 
the  strategic  value  of  this  form. 

197.  Results  of  Timed  Campaigns. — The  results  of 
timed  campaigns  will  prove  the  importance  of  this  feature. 

A  most  successful  letter  for  an  electric-light  company 
was  mailed  at  3  p.  m.  so  that  it  would  be  delivered  and  read 
at  homes  under  gaslight — see  Printers'  Ink,  September  14, 
1917,  page  26. 

The  Standard  Underground  Cable  Company,  Pittsburgh, 
got  10  per  cent  replies  from  what  appeared  to  be  an  ordi- 
nary form  letter  because  it  was  timed  to  reach  the  prospect 
when  he  needed  more  of  the  company's  product. 

Striking  evidence  showing  the  importance  of  timing  cam- 
paigns was  given  by  Charles  W.  H'urd  in  the  issue  of 
Printers'  Ink  for  April  22,  1915,  when  he  recounted  how 
one  advertiser  had  mailed  a  form  letter  to  several  hundred 
prospects  in  the  downtown  district  of  New  York  and  was 
chagrined  to  receive  only  a  small  percentage  of  replies.  It 
had  been  mailed  to  reach  each  prospect  in  the  morning  de- 
livery. A  switch  was  made.  The  same  letter  was  mailed 
so  as  to  reach  the  prospects — a  new  list  but  much  like  the 
first  one — in  the  afternoon  delivery  and  the  returns  in- 
creased ten-fold.  Arriving  with  little  competition,  after 
the  main  part  of  the  day's  work  had  been  disposed  of  in 
the  morning,  the  recipients  were  in  a  receptive  mood  and 
the  letter  got  attention — and  action. 

The  University  Extension  Conservatory  of  Chicago  have 
one  very  efTective  selling  letter  which  is  termed  their  "rain 
letter."  It  is  mailed  to  rural  inquirers  and  uses  the  old, 
familiar  subject,  "weather,"  for  a  point  of  contact.  The 
opening  paragraph  reads : 

If  the  rain   is  'pouring   down   in   your   town   as   it  is   in 
Chicago  this  morning,  you  will  be  glad  to  see  the  sun  shine 


238         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

soon.     We  have  seen  the  sun  only  a  few  days  during  the 
month  of  April,  as  we  have  had  rain,  rain,  rain! 

On  a  dark,  gloomy  day,  a  person  must  stay  indoors,  and 
that  is  the  time  when  an  interesting  hook  or  magazine  is  a 
lot  of  company.  Good  music  also  is  company  and  makes  one 
forget  about  bad  weather.  It  also  gives  one  the  greatest 
pleasure  in  good  weather. 

We  believe  that  the  study  of  music  .  .  . 

Since  sooner  or  later  it  always  rains  this  letter  is  uni- 
versally timely!  It  is  also  tied  up  with  the  service  to  be 
sold — music.     {Advertising  &   Selling,   August   7,   1920). 

198.  Continued  Appeal  Compared  with  "the  Follow- 
up." — Attention  should  be  called  to  the  fact  that  planning 
a  campaign  such  as  we  are  considering  may  mean  one  mail- 
ing a  month  for  a  year,  or  every  week  for  a  month,  and  so 
on.  In  these  cases  the  first  mailing  and  the  last  are  both 
part  of  the  original  campaign  or  appeal  and  should  not  be 
confused  with  the  follow-up  as  described  at  length  in  Chap- 
ter IX.  It  is  true  that  the  second,  third,  and  later  mail- 
ings follow  the  first  mailing,  but  the  appeal,  as  a  rule,  is  on 
a  different  basis  from  what  is  known  in  the  advertising 
world  as  the  "follow-up,"  as  set  forth  in  Section  206. 

199.  Timing  the  Appeal  as  to  Length  of  Campaign. — 
In  Section  186  we  emphasized  the  fact  that  in  planning  a 
direct-advertising  campaign  you  must  bear  in  mind  that 
what  is  to  be  done  is  to  get  somehody  to  do  something.  No 
hard  and  fast  rules  can  be  laid  down  as  to  the  length  of  time 
for  a  campaign,  or  the  length  of  time  over  which  it  may  be 
spread.  The  time  between  appeals,  the  number  of  appeals 
in  a  campaign — both  are  changeable  with  every  business 
problem.  To  sell  the  writer  refills  for  his  safety  razor 
now  would  necessitate  an  appeal  once  every  six  months. 
Before  he  bought  a  stropper  the  appeal  should  have  been 
timed  about  every  three  months.  The  time  for  other  men 
will  change  with  their  individual  habits. 

The  house  organ  is,  almost  universally,  either  a  weekly 
or  monthly;  the  weekly  for  salesmen  and  perhaps  for  em- 
ployees, the  monthly  for  prospects  and  dealers. 


PLANNING  THE  CAMPAIGN  239 

Much  direct  advertising  should  be  timed  to  coordinate  the 
appeal  with  the  appeal  in  magazines,  newspapers,  on  bill- 
boards and  other  forms  of  publicity,  which  may  be  made 
weekly,  fortnightly,  monthly,  or  seasonally. 

It  is  also  admitted  generally  that  no  direct-advertising 
mailings  should  be  planned  to  arrive  from  Friday  to  Mon- 
day, inclusive,  Saturday  is  usually  a  half  day  and  on 
Friday  many  persons  are  prone  to  "put  off"  until  next 
week.  Most  concerns  get  so  much  mail  on  Mondays  that 
anything  that  is  not  urgent  is  cast  aside.  Whenever  pos- 
sible, time  your  mail  to  arrive  from  Tuesday  to  Thursday, 
inclusive.  f 

Likewise  avoid  the  end  of  the  month  and  the  first  of  the 
month — bill-collecting  time. 

If  you  are  aiming  at  householders  and  writing  about 
milk,  try  to  have  your  direct  advertising  arrive  for  a  de- 
livery about  breakfast  time — if  there  is  one — otherwise  not 
until  a  late  afternoon  delivery. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  you  are  appealing  to  business  men 
a  mid-afternoon  delivery  (where  they  get  their  mail  by 
postmen  and  do  not  send  to  the  post  ofifice  for  it)  will  fre- 
quently bring  your  appeal  before  the  prospect  at  a  time 
when  there  is  little  competition  for  attention. 

200.  Analysis  of  Physical  Mechanical  Factors  Which 
Affect  the  Appeal. — Our  purpose  here  is  only  to  allude  to 
the  effect  that  physical  and  mechanical  factors  may  have 
upon  the  appeal.  Each  individual  campaign  differs,  we 
must  repeat,  but  in  planning  the  one  you  are  working  upon, 
check  up  all  of  the  physical  factors  in  Part  Two  and  all  of 
the  mechanical  factors  in  Part  Four  of  this  work  to  see  that 
you  are  using  the  very  best  physical  and  mechanical  factors 
for  your  appeal. 

Two  examples,  perhaps  overdrawn,  will  illustrate  the 
point :  One  paper  manufacturer  at  a  time  when  paper  was 
extremely  scarce  got  out  a  series  of  broadsides.  While 
there  was  every  justification  for  the  company's  use  of  them, 
still  their  very  size  worked  detrimentally.  The  recipients 
took  violent  exception  to  what  they  called  "paper  waiting. " 


240         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

"White  is  the  mourning  color  of  China,  yet  how  fre- 
quently do  manufacturers  appealing  to  that  trade  use  this 
color  (mechanical  as  well  as  physical  factor)  in  address- 
ing Chinese  prospects!  . 

The  Victor  Talking  Machine  Company  issues  an  elaborate 
catalogue  annually  and  then  keeps  it  up  to  date  by  a  series 
of  "supplements"  (see  Fig.  16). 

One  correspondence  school  appealing  to  farmer  boys  put 
out  its  catalogue  in  the  4x9  pocket  size  until  an  analysis 
showed  that  farmer  boys  were  not  in  the  habit  of  carrying 
books  around  in  their  pockets,  like  city  men  who  ride  on 
street  cars — one  of  whom  had  planned  this  catalogue — and 
then  it  was  changed  to  a  larger  size.  The  new  catalogue,  an 
elaborate  one,  was  so  large,  in  fact,  that  it  required  a 
table  to  hold  it,  and  it  was  found  frequently  upon  tables 
in  living  rooms  of  prospects.  Results:  increased  enroll- 
ments from  the  new  and  larger  catalogue.  Except  that 
the  physical  size  differed,  there  was  no  difference  in  the 
appeal. 

Another  firm  appealing  to  the  city  class  found  a  case 
just  the  opposite.  Its  large  house  organ  was  too  big  for 
the  pocket  and  got  no  attention,  except  possibly  a  glance 
upon  arrival.  By  changing  it  to  pocket  size,  however,  re- 
sults improved;  the  recipients  carried  the  smaller  sized 
booklet  about  with  them. 

Miniature  booklets,  about  2x4  inches  in  size,  have  been 
found  to  possess  an  intimate  appeal  which  the  regular 
ized  booklets  do  not  possess  (see  Fig.  12). 

Some  firms  get  out  miniature  booklets,  catalogues,  and 
the  like  for  general  distribution,  or  to  bring  inquiries 
for  the  full-sized  book  or  catalogue  from  persons  particu- 
arly  interested  (see  Fig,  16). 

Size  is  a  mechanical  factor  that,  within  certain  limita- 
tions as  to  stock  sizes  and  shapes,  is  entirely  at  the  com- 
mand of  the  planner  of  direct-advertising  campaigns  and 
it  will  be  well  to  avoid  monotony  in  size  of  physical 
forms  as  well  as  in  the  forms  themselves. 

Analyze  what  you  want  your  prospect  to  do  physically 


PLANNING  THE  CAMPAIGN  241 

with  your  direct  advertising  and  you  will  perhaps  have 
several  different  sizes  and  forms  of  pieces  in  a  campaign. 

201.  Analysis  in  Advance  of  Possible  Success  through 
Tests. — You  have  a  circular  *'form"  letter  which  you 
think  will  bring  replies.  You  intend  to  send  it  to  every 
bank  in  the  United  States.  Why  not  take  a  list  of  a  half 
dozen  names  picked  at  random  from  every  state  in  the 
Union,  for  example,  and  mail  out  some  300  pieces  and 
ascertain  definitely  what  percentage  of  replies  you  get? 

Perhaps  you  will  get  30  replies — 10  per  cent  of  which 
would  seem  very  goo\i  at  first  glance.  But  if  you  analyze 
those  replies  further  and  find  they  come  from  west  of  the 
Rocky  IMountains  almost  exclusively,  you  had  better  ex- 
amine and  find  out  why  your  letter  did  not  bring  an  equal 
number  of  replies  from  the  rest  of  the  country. 

This  is  a  simple  instance  of  using  the  test  method  of 
determining  in  advance  the  possible  success  of  a  piece  of 
direct  advertising. 

202.  Tests  Largely  Restricted  to  Letters. — It  should 
be  admitted  that  tests  are  largely  restricted  to  letters  be- 
cause of  their  element  of  low  cost. 

You  can  approximate  the  test,  though,  by  reducing  your 
mailing  card,  folder,  or  booklet  to  letter  form  and  finding 
out  which  appeal  pulls  the  better. 

W.  Frank  McClure,  publicity  director  of  the  Fort  Dear- 
bom  National  Bank,  Chicago,  while  serving  as  chairman  of 
the  National  Commission  of  the  Associated  Advertising 
Clubs  at  their  Indianapolis  convention  (1920),  gave  this 
excellent  piece  of  advice:  "Begin  in  a  small  way  and 
concentrate  your  publicity  activities  within  a  deliberately 
chosen  small  field.  Pick  a  particular  class  of  prospects 
and  then  try  various  methods  until  you  have  found  the 
one  best  method.  This  plan  saves  lar^e  expenditures  in 
experimental  work  and  it  brings  your  market  to  you  in 
units." 

The  truck  manufacturers  mentioned  in  Section  194,  for 
instance,  could  easily  have  gotten  out  one  of  these  person- 
alized books  and  carefully  checked  returns  in  that  one  field 


242         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

to  learn  if  the  personalization  paid  for  the  increased  cost, 
before  getting  out  a  large  number  of  such  books. 

F.  C.  Drew  in  Postage  for  September,  1918,  tells  of  a 
test  of  two  mailing  folders,  one  of  which  brought  4  per  cent 
returns  and  the  other  14  per  cent.  The  extra  10  per  cent 
returns  well  repaid  for  the  testing  cost. 

203.  "Order  of  Merit"  Method  of  Testing. — Another 
means  of  testing  direct  advertising  is  that  known  as  the 
"order  of  merit"  method.  Prof.  Henry  T.  Moore,  of  the 
University  of  Minnesota,  ably  described  it  to  the  Minne- 
sota advertising  convention  in  1918  in  this  manner: 

''Suppose  a  firm  has  a  mailing  list  of  1,000  names.  Of 
that  number  fifty  are  known  to  be  especially  likely  to  be 
interested  in  the  proposition.  Before  beginning  the  cam- 
paign proper  the  firm  writes  to  each  of  these  fifty  indi- 
viduals telling  them  that  it  is  anxious  to  present  the  merits 
of  its  product  from  the  consumer's  point  of  view,  and  is 
asking  the  individual  addressed  as  a  personal  favor  to  pass 
judgment  on  the  order  of  merit  of  five  different  types  of 
appeal  to  be  mailed  him  on  the  following  day.  It  is  prob- 
able that  the  majority  of  the  fifty  people  will  be  sufficiently 
flattered  to  give  pretty  close  attention  to  the  reading  of 
the  next  mail,  and  a  double  purpose  will  thus  have  been 
served.  For  one  thing,  five  per  cent  of  the  prospects  will 
have  reacted  in  a  really  interested  fashion ;  for  another,  the 
advertiser  will  have  a  much  better  balanced  set  of  ideas 
to  work  out  on  the  other  ninety-five  per  cent.  This  so- 
called  order  of  merit  method  has  already  proved  its  value 
for  the  advance  testing  of  appeals,  and  there  is  every  rea- 
son to  believe  that  its  use  in  one  form  or  another  will  be- 
come more  and  more  frequent.  It  takes  more  time,  more 
money,  and  more  trouble  to  launch  a  campaign  in  this  way, 
but  in  the  long  run  it  will  surel}^  pay-" 

John  Howie  Wright,  editor  of  Postage,  before  the  Cleve- 
land Direct  Mail  convention  outlined  another  simple 
plan  of  testing  direct-advertising  matter  which  is  available 
to  all: 

"When  you  have  written  a  wonderful  piece  of  advertis- 


PLANNING  THE  CAMPAIGN  243 

ing  matter  that  you  think  will  set  the  Hudson  river  on  fire, 
make  six  copies  of  it,  turn  these  copies  over  to  the  six  smart- 
est people  in  your  organization,  preferably  three  men  and 
three  women ;  offer  a  five-dollar  gold  piece  for  the  best  sug- 
gestion and  another  five-dollar  gold  piece  for  the  best  criti- 
cism. You  will  be  surprised  how  much  you  will  learn  from 
people  in  your  own  office,  and  the  ten  dollars  will  be  well 
spent. ' ' 

Mr.  Wright  is  a  successful  salesman-by-mail  and  his  ad- 
vice on  this  score  is  well  worth  heeding. 

204.  Haste  in  Campaign  Planning  Means  Waste. — 
Somewhere  Gerald  Stanley  Lee  remarked,  without  sacrilege, 
that  Christ  was  crucified  because  the  crowd  was  in  a  hurry. 
Not  without  reverence  let  us  most  emphatically  say  that 
more  direct-advertising  campaigns  are  crucified  because  the 
"crowd"  (the  advertiser)  is  in  a  hurry. 

Analyze,  test,  plan — these  three  words  mean  much  to 
more  effective  direct  advertising  of  all  forms. 

Questions  for  Class  Work  or  for  Review  Purposes 

1.  State  the  principal  weakness  of  direct-advertising  campaigns. 

2.  How  can  this  be  corrected? 

3.  Give  the  five  fundamentals  of  planning  an  effective  direct 
campaign. 

4.  Take  some  business  or  industry  with  which  you  are  familiar 
and  write  out  a  plan  of  study  of  the  market  and  marketing  con- 
ditions. 

5.  State  the  three  ways  in  which  an  appeal  may  be  made. 

6.  What  is  meant  by  "personalizing"  the  appeal? 

7.  Give  examples  and  state  your  own  experiences  of  returns 
from  personalized  appeals. 

8.  Wherein  does  syndicated  direct  advertising  differ  from  per- 
sonalized appeals? 

9.  For  what  would  you  recommend  use  of  syndicated  direct 
advertising? 

10.  How  important  is  the  timing  of  an  appeal?     State  several 
ways  in  which  this  may  be  done. 


CHAPTER  IX 

PLANNING  THE  FOLLOW-UP 

The  man  who  once  so  wisely  said, 
Be  sure  you're  right  then  go  ahead, 
Might,  likewise,  have  added  this,  to  wit: 
Be  sure  you're  wrong  before  you  quit. 

— Author  Unknown. 

205.  The  Theory  of  the  Follow-up. — Some  psychologist 
is  responsible  for  the  statement  that  it  takes  at  least  five 
repeated  impressions  to  implant  firmly  an  idea  in  the  mind 
of  the  average  human  being.  There  you  have  in  a  sentence 
the  theory  of  the  follow-up ;  it  is  the  repeated  appeal  which 
is  remembered  just  as  the  constant  dripping  of  water  wears 
away  stone.  Fig.  57,  reproduced  from  the  issue  of  Postage 
for  May,  1916,  originally  prepared  by  J.  H.  Buswell,  pic- 
tures graphically  how  the  follow-up  works  on  the  mind  of 
the  average  prospect. 

206.  Follow-up  Distinguished  from  Continuous  Cam- 
paign.— Though  the  effect  may  be  the  same,  yet  for  a  clear 
understanding  of  the  planning  of  the  follow-up  it  should 
be  stated  that  there  is  a  difference  between  a  continuous 
campaign  of  direct  advertising  and  what  the  advertising 
man  refers  to  as  "the  follow-up."  Naturally  if  there  is 
more  than  one  piece  in  a  campaign  of  direct  advertising  the 
second,  third,  and  later  pieces  follow  the  first  one,  but  such 
a  campaign  is  not  a  follow-up  campaign,  nor  are  the  pieces 
after  number  one  known  technically  as  a  follow-up,  and 
do  not  come  within  the  scope  of  this  chapter. 

A  follow-up  is  the  piece  or  pieces  sent  to  an  inquirer  fol- 
lowing his  or  her  original  inquiry  of  the  advertiser. 

In  other  words,  pieces  sent  out  in  a  direct-advertising 
campaign  do  not  become  follow-ups  until  afti^r  some  one 
addressed  makes  an  inquiry  and  evinces  interest.  This  dis- 
tinction is  necessary  because  the  properly  planned  "foUow- 

244 


PLANNING  THE  FOLLOW-UP 


245 


up"  leads  to  but  one  thing — crystallization  into  whatever 
action  is  desired  of  the  interest  already  admitted  by  the 
prospect.  The  continuous  campaign  of  direct  advertising, 
when  properly  planned,  has  for  its  object  to  make  the  pros- 
pect evince  the  interest. 

207.  Who  Can  Use  the  Follow-up? — Not  all  firms  can 
use  the  follow-up  to  advantage.  One  of  the  large  cement 
companies,  after  a  most  thorough  system  of  recording  re- 


Fig.  57. — At  point  1  the  prospect  cannot  help  himself.  Every  mes- 
sage can  at  least  plant  a  tiny  seed.  At  point  2  a  "picture"  of  the 
profit,  benefit  and  enjoyment  to  be  derived  from  the  purchase  is 
called  up  in  the  prospect's  mind.  At  point  3  the  dynamic  will  to 
act  is  transformed  into  action. 

turns,  has  definitely  abandoned  the  plan  of  following  up 
those  who  inquire.  Its  reason  is  that  cement  is  much  alike, 
regardless  of  brand ;  the  amount  of  sale  is  probably  small 
and  so  the  firm  acknowledges  the  inquiry  and  refers  it  to 
its  own  dealer,  if  it  has  one ;  if  not,  the  company  sends  it 
to  the  dealer  whom  it  would  like  to  have  for  its  representa- 
tive, then  closes  the  file  upon  that  inquiry. 

C.  IT.  Clark,  advertising  manager  of  Goulds  IMaiuifac- 
turing  Company,  selling  in  almost  the  same  field  as  the 
cement  company  referred  to  in  the  preceding  paragraph, 
but  selling  pumps,  showed  in  Printers'  Ink,  April  3,  1913, 


246         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

how  on  a  product  which  required  educational  effort  it  was 
necessary  for  the  manufacturer  to  get  the  inquiry  and  fol- 
low it  up.  Explained,  because  dealers,  jobbers,  and  often- 
times salesmen  cannot  be  relied  upon  to  dispense  this  edu- 
cational information  in  the  same  thorough  manner  that  the 
manufacturer's  own  follow-up  can. 

208.  Inquiries  Worth  Getting  Are  Worth  Following 
Up. — If  you  mean  to  get  inquiries  by  your  advertising, 
whether  by  direct  advertising  or  through  any  other  form, 
then  the  man  or  woman  who  inquires  concerning  your  prod- 
uct deserves  not  only  a  prompt  and  courteous  letter  of  reply 
to  the  inquiry  but  a  follow-up  beyond  that,  as  is  justified 
in  your  business.  Any  firm  directly  or  indirectly  seeking 
inquiries  by  its  advertising  is  under  obligation  at  least  to 
follow-up  (answer)  that  inquiry  once.  See  Section  219  as 
to  length  of  follow-ups. 

Take  a  business  like  The  Independent  Corporation  or  that 
of  the  Woman's  Institute  of  Domestic  Arts  and  Sciences; 
each  gets  inquiries  by  publication  advertising  and  since  each 
has  no  salesmen  or  other  representatives  it  must  have  a 
follow-up  system  to  make  the  advertising  productive. 

209.  Check  Up  Inquiries  Through  Salesmen  Where 
Possible. — Wherever  possible,  the  inquiries  should  be 
checked  up  through  salesmen,  though  this  is  not  possible  in 
cases  like  those  mentioned  in  the  preceding  section.  By 
checking  up  through  salesmen  to  find  out  just  who  has  in- 
quired, whether  he  is  a  &07?a  fide  inquirer,  or  merely  what  is 
termed  a  "curiosity-seeker"  (on  a  direct-advertising  cam- 
paign with  a  properly  built  list  this  class  should  be  near 
nihil).  The  Chain  Belt  Company,  for  example,  explains  in 
the  issue  of  Printers'  Ink  for  Jul}'  8,  1920,  how  it  gets  its 
salesmen  in  reporting  on  inquiries  to  mark  them  either : 
*'hot  prospect,"  "lukewarm,"  or  "merely  interested,"  and 
the  firm  then  graduates  its  follow-up  in  accordance  with  the 
"warmth"  of  the  prospect.  With  the  "lukewarm,"  the 
mailings  are  much  further  apart;  and  with  the  "merely  in- 
terested," still  further  than  for  the  "hot"  prospects.  A 
plan  of  this  nature,  checking  up  the  inquiries  through  sales- 


PLANNING  THE  FOLLOW-UP  247 

men,  against  rating  books,  from  dealers  or  other  reports, 
keeps  the  follow-up  from  being  overdone. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  follow-up  is  often  overdone. 
There  is  a  case  on  record  where  a  man  inquired  of  the 
readers'  service  bureau  of  a  magazine  and  received  nine- 
teen pounds  of  follow-up  material !  Here  is  emphasized  the 
need  for  properly  planning  the  follow-up. 

Letters  are  the  usual  form  of  a  follow-up,  though  not 
necessarily.     Fig.  58  illustrates  a  mailing  card  used  as  a 


SCOTT'S     LAWN     SEED 


Do  you  want  to  know  why  your  Lawn  is  full  of  weeds,  why  you  have 
a  poor  growth  of  grass  under  trees,  why  a  light  sprinkling  really  injures  the 
grass,  how  to  get  rid  of  weeds  and  moss>  (Send  for  our  free  booklel,  "WeedUu 
Lawru. ")  It  tells  how  to  prepare  a  new  lawn,  too,  making  the  proper  seed 
bed  so  that  the  grass  will  grow  down  as  well  as  up. 

Place  this  with  a  dollar  bill  in  an  envelope  and  we  will  send  you 
three  pounds  prepaid.  This  is  an  introductory  offer.  Larger  quantities 
forty  cents  per  pound. 

O.  M  SCOTT  &  SONS  CO. 
Marytville,  Ohio 


Fig.  58. — A  rather  peculiar  form  of  follow-up.     It  has  been  found 
eflFective  by  the  seed  house  which  uses  it. 

follow-up  by  a  seed  house.  The  user  reports  that  it  is 
pulling  well. 

Whatever  form  the  follow-up  is  to  take  should  be  planned 
so  as  not  to  antagonize  those  addressed.  !Most  important  of 
all,  once  any  one  of  the  list  buys,  that  buyer's  name  should 
be  removed  from  the  list;  otherwise  a  satisfied  customer 
may  be  turned  into  a  violent  enemy.  No  one  wants  to  be 
eternally  bombarded  to  buy  this  or  that  service  or  product 
after  he  has  already  bought;  it  is  an  indirect  questioning 
of  the  purchaser's  judgment  and  he  resents  it. 

210.  A  Typical  Follow-Up. — John  Doe,  living  in  Rural- 
ville,  Missouri,  writes  to  the  Blank  Manufacturing  Com- 


248 


PLANNING  THE  FOLLOW-UP  249 

pany  about  the  latter 's  new  type  of  talking  machine,  an- 
swering either  a  publication  or  direct  advertisement.  Out  of 
this  simple  inquiry  any  one  of  several  follow-ups  may  arise. 
The  Blank  Company  may  be  a  mail-order  house  and,  fol- 
lowing the  answering  of  Mr.  Doe's  inquiry,  keep  after  him 
with  a  set  follow-up  to  get  his  order.  Or  the  company  may 
refer  the  inquiry  to  Richard  Roe,  a  phonograph  dealer 
in  Ruralville.  Having  done  this  it  may  or  may  not  also 
follow  up  direct,  at  various  times. 

Fig.  59  A  illustrates  how  the  Victor  Talking  Machine 
Company  answers  the  original  inquiry.  Note  especially 
how  in  the  lower  left-hand  corner  it  refers  the  inquirer  to 
three  different  firms.  This  is  a  multigraphed  letter  with 
date,  name,  address,  salutation,  and  dealers'  names  filled  in. 

A  jewelry  firm  has  an  ingenious  method  of  referring  in- 
quiries to  the  dealers  which  should  be  mentioned.  It  is  a 
mailing  card  which  is  sent  to  the  inquirer  and  which  reads : 

Jones  •&  Brown,  Jewelers, 
New  Haven,  Conn. 

This  will  introduce  to  you 
Robert  Cole, 
who  wishes  to  inspect  your  stock  of  Larter  Studs,  Links,  and 
Best  Buttons,  and  for  whom  we  bespeak  every  possible  con- 
sideration. 

Thanking  you  in  advance  for  the  courtesy,  we  are, 
Yours  very  truly, 

Larter  &  Sons,  New  York. 

This  is  not  only  an  introduction,  but  also  answers  the  in- 
quiry and  in  a  neat  way,  with  the  name  of  the  jewelers  as 
well  as  the  prospect  neatly  filled  in  on  the  printed  card. 

Fig.  59  B  illustrates  a  personal  typewritten  reply  to  an 
inquiry,  and  Fig.  59  C  the  follow-up  on  it  which  came  six 
weeks  later,  also  personally  written. 

Fig.  60  illustrates  the  original  reply  and  two  follow-ups 
received  in  response  to  an  inquiry  made  of  a  machinery 
package  manufacturer.  All  of  these  letters  were  about  two 
pages  in  length,  but  since  they  were  presumably  sent  to 


ByCKAOS  MAdnXEBr  CoioMiqr 


■  'W*'«  UU^ 


Fig.  60. — The  original  reply  and  two  of  the  several 
follow-ups  received  in  response  to  an  inquiry  made  of 
a  national  advertiser.  Reproduced  merely  to  show 
length  of  letters  used. 

250 


PLANNING  THE  FOLLOW-UP  251 

young  men  desiring  to  go  into  business  for  themselves  and 
make  money,  their  length  is  excusable. 

See  also  Sections  382  and  411. 

There  are  three  different  classifications  of  follow-up  cam- 
paigns: the  continuous  follow-up ;  the  wear-out  or  persis- 
tent follow-up ;  and  the  term  follow-up. 

211.  The  Continuous  Follow-up  Largely  Used  to  Keep 
in  Touch  with  Regular  Trade. — IManufacturers  use  the 
continuous  system  of  follow-up  to  keep  in  touch  with  their 
dealers  (retailers),  while  the  retailers,  in  turn,  keep  in 
touch  with  their  customers  by  a  similar  plan.  It  is  an 
intermittent  campaign,  of  course,  planned  by  seasons,  events 
(birthdays,  anniversaries,  and  the  like),  or  for  the  purpose 
of  introducing  new  products,  styles,  and  so  on.  All  kinds 
of  businesses  can  use  the  continuous  plan  of  follow-up. 

One  of  the  leading  advertising  publications  has  a  rather 
unique  continuous  follow-up.  Some  three  weeks  before 
your  subscription  expires  you  get  one  of  its  follow-up  let- 
ters, inclosing  an  "automatic  renewal  card."  This  follow- 
up  letter  suggests  that  you  will  not  want  to  miss  any  copies 
and  asks  that  you  mail  the  card  inclosed  which  authorizes 
the  publisher  to  continue  your  subscription  and  submit 
you  a  bill.  Since  most  of  the  subscriptions  come  from  in- 
dividuals who  want  bills  presented  so  as  to  have  a  charge 
record,  this  plan  works  very  well. 

See  Section  221  for  results  from  continuous  follow-ups. 

212.  Wear-out  or  Persistent  Follow-ups  Frequently 
Antagonize. — The  only  thing  that  stops  some  follow-ups  is 
the  lack  of  returns  to  justify  their  continuance.  One  firm 
claims  it  follows  up  until  the  prospect  either  "buys  or 
dies."  In  this  form  of  follow-up  each  different  piece  is 
designed  to  appeal  to  some  different  angle  of  the  prospect's 
mind,  while  it  is  usual  in  the  continuous  follow-up  to  have 
each  individual  piece  make  a  complete  canvass,  since  there 
is  no  telling  when  there  will  be  another  follow-up. 

There  is  a  classic  example  of  one  follow-up  of  this  wear- 
out  type  attributed  to  the  National  Cash  Register  Com- 
pany when  the  man  inquired  and  no  subsequent  action 


252         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

could  be  secured.  The  twenty-fourth  follow-up,  the  first 
paragraph  of  which  was :  "Do  you  want  your  boy  to  be  a 
thief?"  brought  action  from  the  prospect. 

A  coffee  campaign  of  a  "wear-out"  variety,  for  it  runs 
for  52  weeks,  has  found  that  the  best  paying  piece  in  point 
of  results  for  its  users  is  the  forty-ninth. 

A  Chicago  correspondence  school  has  a  three-page  letter 
that  is  sent  in  answer  to  an  inquiry  on  the  day  it  is  re- 
ceived. The  next  day  it  sends  a  one-page  follow-up  which 
starts  off:  "I  am  sending  three  inclosures  omitted  from 
yesterday's  letter."  Both  of  these  letters  are  signed  by  the 
assistant  secretary.  The  seventh  day,  the  vice-president 
sends  a  short  one-page  note  supplementing  some  points  the 
assistant  secretary  made.  The  seventeenth  day  the  next 
follow-up  goes  out,  and  is  two  pages  in  length ;  the  twenty- 
seventh  day  another  two-page  follow-up ;  these  two  signed 
by  the  assistant  secretary.  On  the  forty-fifth  day  the  vice- 
president  sends  a  two-page  follow-up.  If  no  answer  has 
been  received  by  that  time  the  inquiry  receives  no  more 
attention  until  six  months  after,  when  another  two-page 
follow-up  goes  out. 

213.  Term  Follow-up. — The  usual  form  of  follow-up  to- 
day, perhaps  used  more  often  than  the  continuous  and  cer- 
tainly far  more  often  than  the  questionable  wear-out  or  per- 
sistent campaign  which  is  so  likely  to  result  in  arousing  an- 
tagonism, is  the  term  follow-up. 

In  this  case  you  are  followed  up  for  a  certain  term. 
Some  firms  follow  you  twice  and  stop,  a  few  only  follow 
once,  a  larger  number  three  times,  and  a  decreasing  num- 
ber four  times  or  more.  In  any  event  experience  shows 
that,  with  few  exceptions,  few  national  advertisers  follow 
up  after  a  90-day  period. 

A  typical  term  follow-up  used  by  a  house  not  sending  out 
salesmen  is  that  of  the  Pepsodent  Company,  which  adver- 
tises in  a  large  list  of  publications  to  send  a  ten-day  test 
tube  of  its  dentrifice.  With  the  sample  tube  it  sends  out 
a  one-page  form  letter.  Then,  timed  so  as  to  reach  the 
prospect  just  about  the  time  the  ten-day  tube  is  likely  to 


PLANNING  THE  FOLLOW-UP  253 

be  exhausted,  there  is  sent  a  follow-up  that  suggests  the 
purchase  of  a  full-sized  tube.  There  is  no  follow-up  beyond 
this. 

Now  and  then  a  dormant  term  follow-up  is  reawakened 
either  with  a  new  follow-up  after  about  six  months  or  a 
year,  or  the  name  is  used  as  a  prospect  for  a  new  cam- 
paign. 

214.  Term  Follow-up  Often  Used  in  Connection  with 
Salesmen. — The  term  follow-up  idea  is  often  used  in  con- 
nection with  ■  salesmen.  The  Burroughs  Adding  IMachine 
Company  was,  I  believe,  the  originator  of  a  Club  Campaign 
plan  of  follow-up  in  this  way,  as  set  forth  in  Section  403. 

Briefly,  each  salesman  was  permitted  to  send  in  fifty 
names  for  the  Club  Campaign.  The  purpose  of  this  cam- 
paign was  not  to  obtain  inquiries  but  to  pave  the  way  for 
the  salesman  to  get  orders.  It  took  sixty  days  to  complete 
the  mailing  of  the  campaign,  and  the  salesman  had  to  agree 
to  follow  up  each  of  the  names  within  a  30-day  period  with- 
out neglecting  his  regular  business.  Other  concerns  have 
used  the  "leads,"  inquiries  produced  by  direct  advertising 
and  publication  advertisements,  in  much  the  same  manner. 

215.  Appeals  Must  Be  Changed  to  Avoid  Monotony. 
— In  the  olden  days,  when  the  patent-medicine  men  ruled 
the  advertising  world,  the  follow-up  system  fell  into  disre- 
pute for  the  "smart"  mail-order  advertisers  got  up  a  sys- 
tem of,  say,  six  letters  to  sell  a  $50  "course,"  or  "service." 
Once  a  week  for  six  weeks  you  were  mailed  another  of  these 
letters;  the  second  one  offered  you  the  course  for  $40,  the 
third  for  $30  and  so  on,  until  at  the  end  of  the  follow-up 
you  were  almost  presented  with  a  check  for  buying  the 
"service."  In  many  cases  after  the  prospect  had  mailed 
a  check  for  $50  he  got  the  $40  offer — they  crossed  in  the 
mails — and  in  a  short  time  the  wise  buyers  waited  for  the 
follow-up  to  run  its  course.  Then  the  book-sellers  modified 
the  plan  by  using  "slightly  used,"  "shop-worn,"  "off-color 
bindings"  and  similar  excuses  for  cutting  the  price. 

While  all  these  practices  are  against  present-day  business 
ethics,  still  the  principle  remains  unclianged :  if  you  would 


254         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

avoid  monotony,  possible  antagonism,  in  your  follow-up, 
change  the  appeals. 

One  method  of  changing  the  appeal  is  by  varying  the 
letterhead,  envelope,  or  other  physical  form  used  in  the 
campaign.  One  concern  alternates  a  series  of  six  broad- 
sides every  sixty  days  with  a  house  organ  published 
every  other  month. 

Another  method  of  changing  the  appeal  is  to  make  a 
slight  modification  in  terms  of  payment.  This  plan  has 
been  used  for  a  long  time  successfully  by  Swoboda,  the 
physical-culture  mail-order  specialist. 

The  weakness  of  many  follow-up  campaigns  is  indicated 
in  the  use  of  too  many  letters  which  are  too  easily  recog- 
nized at  first  glance.  One  publisher  of  a  well  known  maga- 
zine seems  to  have  aroused  the  antipathy  of  every  ad- 
vertising man  of  my  acquaintance — upon  whom  he  is  de- 
pendent for  business — by  sending  the  same  cheap  shoddy 
form  letters  forever  and  forever  apparently  to  the  same  list, 
sometimes  to  the  same  name  several  different  times. 

The  writer  has  on  file  a  letter  written  by  the  sales  man- 
ager for  a  machine.  This  letter  is  used  almost  exclusively 
for  follow-up  work;  this  is  what  he  writes:  "We  have 
known  eases  where  we  have  sent  a  series  of  twelve  person- 
ally written  follow-up  letters  without  receiving  a  single 
reply  from  the  prospect;  then  we  mail  him  a  small  one- 
cent  folder  and  get  a  reply  by  return  mail.  This  really 
ioesn't  prove  anything  but  is  sometimes  very  amusing." 

It  does  suggest  that  there  has  been  too  much  monotony  in 
many  follow-up  campaigns.  Above  all,  the  follow-up  cam- 
paign should  be  planned  so  as  to  avoid  monotony. 

"Variety  is  the  spice  of  life"  is  a  good  motto  to  place 
over  the  desk  of  every  follow-up  campaign  planner. 

216.  Writing  the  Follow-up. — Essentially  the  writing 
of  the  follow-up  differs  very  little  from  any  other  class  of 
direct  advertising.  If  the  follow-up  is  to  be  a  letter,  you 
adhere  very  closely  to  the  instructions  as  set  forth  in  Sec- 
tions 25  to  27  inclusive  and  Chapter  X. 

The  usual  plan  of  writing  is  to  emphasize  different  selling 


PLANNING  THE  FOLLOW-UP  255 

points  or  arguments  in  each  succeeding  piece  and  then  in 
the  final  follow-up  to  give  a  general  resume  of  the  entire 
proposition. 

Attention  should  be  drawn  to  the  so-called  standardized 
or  form  paragraph  system  of .  answering  inquiries,  espe- 
cially applicable  where  the  follow-up  is  only  one  piece  as 
described  in  Section  330. 

217.  Handling  the  Follow-Up  Campaign. — For  the  re- 
production of  the  follow-up  see  Section  329.  For  the  me- 
chanical handling  of  the  records  of  the  campaign  see  Section 
364. 

218.  Number  of  Times  to  Follow  Up. — The  length  of 
the  follow-up  must  be  largely  decided  by  tests  which  show 
which  best  suit  the  business  under  consideration.  In  Sec- 
tion 207  we  read  of  two  extremes,  the  campaign  that  con- 
sisted of  a  single  follow-up,  no  record  of  the  inquiry  being 
kept;  and  the  campaign  that  persisted  indefinitely. 

A  few  facts  as  to  what  is  the  common  practice  will  be 
useful : 

A  manufacturer  of  detachable  automobile  chains,  repre- 
senting a  purchase  of  from  $10  to  $15,  after  a  careful  test 
has  found  that  it  does  not  pay  to  follow  up  more  than 
twice.  At  times  he  had  sent  out  as  many  as  five  follow-ups. 
As  against  this  the  Gibson  Mandolin-Guitar  Company, 
whose  follow-up  campaign  was  one  of  the  prize  winners  in 
the  1919  Direct  Advertising  Contest,  has  a  follow-up  of 
eight  pieces. 

A  silo  company  which  has  had  good  results  from  its 
follow-up  has  six  pieces  in  the  series. 

G.  Lynn  Sumner,  vice-president,  "Woman's  Institute, 
Scranton,  Pa.,  in  reply  to  the  direct  question  at  the  De- 
troit convention  explained  their  system  of  follow-up  in  this 
manner:  "The  follow-up  extends  over  a  period  of  six 
weeks  from  the  time  the  inquiry  is  first  received,  and  after 
that  a  seasonal  follow-up  is  conducted.  The  prospect  gets 
four  follow-ups  in  the  first  six  weeks,  one  on  the  average  of 
every  ten  days,  and  we  follow  for  two  years  and  then  we 


256        EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

discard  the  names."  Mr.  Sumner's  remarks  are  very  much 
to  the  point  because  all  of  the  Woman's  Institute  business 
is  brought  in  by  mail.  The  seasonal  follow-ups  go  out  .at 
those  periods  of  the  year  which  their  accurate  records  show 
them  as  high-points  in  way  of  returns. 

One  firm  in  Virginia  had  to  triple  its  plant  to  care  for 
increased  business  brought  in  by  a  series  of  three  inquiry- 
bringing  letters,  plus  a  modest  32-page  catalogue,  and 
by  a  series  of  12  follow-up  letters.  {Postage,  May,  1918, 
page  12.) 

An  insurance  agent  found  a  series  of  four  letters  to  ob- 
tain the  best  results  in  selling  insurance.  {Mailhag,  May, 
1917,  page  10.) 

The  National  City  Company  of  New  York  in  follow-up 
work  on  inquiries  about  bonds  keep  at  the  prospect  once  a 
month  for  six  months.  (Advertising  &  Selling,  July 
12,  1919.) 

George  B.  Sharpe,  now  with  the  Cleveland  Tractor  Com- 
pany, formerly  with  DeLaval  Separator  Company,  at  the 
Cleveland  Direct  Advertising  convention  said  he  followed 
up  a  prospect  "six  or  seven  times." 

219.  Duration  of  the  Follow-up. — The  subjects  of  dura- 
ion  of  the  follow-up  and  the  number  of  times  to  follow  up 
ire  closely  akin.  Mr.  Sharpe,  referred  to  in  Section 
218,  stated  that  the  DeLaval  people  sent  out  their  separator 
advertising  about  the  first  of  January  each  year,  and  the 
next  piece  about  January  25th,  and  "then  we  would  begin 
to  close  up  a  little  and  when  we  got  near  the  end  of  the 
campaign  we  would  be  running  ten  days  apart,  because  as 
we  got  into  the  actual  selling  season  we  speeded  up." 
While  in  this  quotation  Mr.  Sharpe  is  referring  to  a  direct 
campaign  and  not  to  the  follow-up,  strictly  speaking,  his 
arguments  are  sound  and  will  hold  good  in  any  business 
that  is  seasonal. 

Another  experience  showing  the  length  of  time  between 
follow-ups,  strictly  the  following-up  of  an  inquiry  devel- 
oped by  publication  advertising,  is  that  drawn  by  J.  C. 
Buckbee,  Jr.,  secretary.  Federal  School  of  Commercial  De- 


PLANNING  THE  FOLLOW-UP  257 

signing,  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  who  in  an  article  in  Advertis- 
ing &  Selling  for  June  7,  1919,  said:  "We  have  prob- 
ably carried  our  policy  of  a  persistent  follow-up  farther 
than  is  usual,  and  have  not  yet  come  to  the  unprofitable 
limit  on  inquiries  received  four  years  ago." 

Margin  of  profit,  method  of  selling,  class  of  people  ap- 
pealed to,  whether  the  product  is  old  or  new,  and  amount 
involved  are  all  factors  which  enter  into  the  decision  as  to 
length  of  the  follow-up.  Naturally  one  would  hesitate 
longer  about  buying  a  home,  or  an  automobile,  than  he 
would  if  about  to  buy  a  new  brand  of  tooth-paste. 

220.  Duration  of  Time  Between  Follow-ups. — The 
duration  of  time  between  follow-ups  should  be  such  as  to 
permit  opportunity  for  your  prospect  to  consider  thor- 
oughly your  arguments  so  that  these  may  be  driven  home 
without  antagonizing  him.  One  contractor  bombarded  a 
school  board  daily  with  follow-up  material  after  it  had  in- 
quired as  to  his  services.  He  lost  the  job  by  a  follow-up 
which  was  too  intensive.  The  usual  time  between  follow- 
ups  is  from  10  days  to  2  weeks,  and  the  length  of  time  after 
the  first  two  or  three  follow-ups  is  usually  longer  in  propor- 
tion to  the  time  since  the  inquiry  was  received,  except  in 
seasonal  products  like  those  mentioned  in  Section  219. 
Though  in  the  case  of  the  seasonal  products,  oftentimes  they 
are  followed  up  again  the  following  season. 

W.  A.  Shryer,  author  of  "Analytical  Advertising,"  in  a 
magazine  article  gave  the  results  of  a  test  made  on  five  lots 
of  inquiries  followed  up  for  a  month  and  a  half  at  intervals 
of  one  daj'',  two,  three,  four,  and  fifteen  days,  with  the  fol- 
lowing percentage  of  cash  returns,  respectively : 

Per  Cent. 

One   day 0414 

Two  days 0654 

Three    days 0473 

Four  days 0591 

Fifteen  days 0686 

In  this  test  he  also  tried  out  the  thirty-day  interval,  but, 
he  writes:     "This  showed  a  very  low  percentage." 


258         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Mr.  Shryer's  was  a  mail-order  proposition  entirely,  and 
his  results  were  most  interesting,  but,  as  he  says,  others 
will  have  to  analyze  and  test  for  themselves. 

Based  upon  the  law  that  we  retain  longest  that  which  we 
get  the  strongest  impression  of,  most  follow-ups  start  off 
close  together  and  get  further  and  further  apart  as  time 
goes  on.   ' 

221.  Results  from  Various  Classes  of  Follow-ups. — It 
will  be  interesting  to  note  some  of  the  results  which  have 
been  achieved  by  follow-ups: 

J.  M.  Gasser  Company,  florists,  of  Cleveland,  have  been 
wonderfully  successful  in  following  up  the  anniversaries, 
birthdays,  and  similar  events  by  reminders  which  their 
customers  have  been  taught  to  expect.  Between  five  and 
six  hundred  Cleveland  business  men  out  of  five  thousand 
appealed  to  are  thus  followed  up,  according  to  Mailhag, 
June,  1917,  page  79. 

H.  M.  Graves,  of  Montgomery  Ward  &  Company,  the 
Chicago  mail-order  house,  before  the  Chicago  Direct  Ad- 
vertising Convention  told  of  a  follow-up  after  those  cus- 
tomers who  had  not  ordered  as  much  as  $5  worth  of  goods 
in  a  year.  One  of  these  follow-ups  mailed  to  518,000 
names  produced  8  per  cent  replies,  more  than  $65,000 
in  cash  returns,  and  over  40,000  requests  that  the  firm 
continue  to  send  its  catalogue  to  those  customers. 

Knowledge,  in  its  issue  for  ]\Iarch,  1915,  relates  the 
story  of  a  follow-up  series  of  12  pieces,  which  had  for  its 
object  the  raising  of  $100,000  on  a  prospectus  previously 
prepared.  As  it  prints  the  story:  "To  the  tenth  letter 
we  were  $80,000  off,  $20,000  only  having  been  received. 
Oversubscription  of  the  remaining  $80,000  was  received 
on  the  twelfth  and  final  letter." 

Questions  fob  Class  "Work  or  for  Review  Purposes 

1.  Is  there  any  difference  between  the  follow-up  and  following- 
up  with  a  continuous  campaign  of  advertising  pieces?  Explain 
fully. 

2.  What  is  the  follow-up?     How  long  should  it  extend? 


PLANNING  THE  FOLLOW-UP  259 

3.  Is  the  follow-up  always  of  letters? 

4.  What  is  tlie  objection  frequently  offered  to  follow-up  cam- 
paigns and  how  may  this  be  avoided? 

5.  Give  the  three  classes  of  follow-ups  and  define  each.  Name, 
if  you  can,  firms  other  than  those  mentioned  in  the  text  which 
use  each  of  them. 

6.  What,  in  your  opinion,  should  be  the  number  of  follow-ups 
for  a  campaign  offering  a  fairy-story  booklet  on  chewing  gum? 

7.  Suppose  Question  6  be  applied  to  cover  the  purchase  of  a 
baby  grand  piano? 

8.  What  is  the  usual  time  between  follow-ups? 


CHAPTER  X 

WRITING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

That  writer  does  the  most  good  who  gives  his  reader  the  utmost 
knowledge  and  takes  from  him  the  least  time. — Author  Un- 
known. 

222.  Importance  of  "Copy"  and  Its  Relation  to  Other 
Parts  of  Direct  Advertising. — In  advertising  parlance,  the 
reading  matter  of  a  letter  or  other  piece  of  advertising  is 
termed  "copy."  In  the  eyes  of  the  uninitiated  this  prob- 
ably seems  the  most  important  part  of  advertising  since  it 
is  the  method  of  conveying  the  message  to  the  reader. 
Considered  from  the  standpoint  of  the  maker  of  direct  ad- 
vertising, however,  it  is  comparatively  important,  of  course, 
yet  secondary  to: 

1.  Choosing  the  right  list; 

2.  Analyzing  the  market  and  marketing  conditions ; 

3.  Deciding  upon  proper  psychological  appeal ; 

4.  Planning  the  campaign  and  choosing  the  right  physical 

piece  or  pieces. 

It  will  be  noted  that  in  the  book  you  now  read,  all  of 
these  factors  have  been  dealt  with  before  consideration  of 
the  actual  writing  of  "copy."  With  these  four  vital 
factors  thoroughly  understood  it  is,  comparatively  speaking, 
easy  to  write  the  copy. 

The  last  paragraph  is  not  intended  to  convey  the  impres- 
sion that  writing  "copy"  is  merely  a  matter  of  grammar 
or  syntax,  though  that  is  important.  As  Harry  Tipper 
said  before  the  Association  of  National  Advertisers  in  one 
of  the  most  able  analyses  of  copy  ever  made,  copy  has 
four  essentials:  "Knowledge  of  the  audience.  Knowl- 
edge of  the  subject.  Knowledge  of  the  language.  Sincerity 
of  purpose." 

260 


WRITING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  261 

(a)  Knowledge  of  the  audience,  or  knowing  the  people 
to  whom  the  appeal  properly  should  be  made,  as  set  forth  in 
Sections  187, 188,  and  191.  Here  are  a  few  questions  which 
you  may  ask  yourself,  to  crystallize  the  knowledge  of 
those  you  are  addressing: 

Who  are  the  possible  buyers? 
Where  are  the  possible  buyers? 
What  are  the  possible  buyers? 
How  can  they  be  classified? 

— either  by  different  grades  of  products, 

— or,  by  the  entire  family  of  products. 
What  do  they  already  know  about  these  goods? 
What  do  they  already  know  about  other  similar  goods? 
How  will  they  order? 

— direct,  through  salesmen  or  retailers? 
What  is  the  size  of  the  average  order? 

(&)  Knowledge  of  the  subject,  or  knowing  the  product 
or  service,  comes  of  intensive  study  and  investigation. 
Here  are  a  few  questions  which  will  help  to  secure  that 
knowledge : 

Is  the  product  something  new  in  formation  or  function? 

Is  its  use  familiar  to  possible  buyers? 

Is  it  a  necessary? 

Is  it  a  convenience? 

Is  it  a  pure  luxury? 

How  does  it  compare  with  competing  products? 

Does  it  represent  a  complete  sale? 

Does  it  represent  a  sale  involving  an  accessory  or  additional 

sales? 
Can  its  use  be  illustrated,  or  must  it  be  described? 
Is  the  product  an  experiment,  subject  to  change  in  form,  or 

nearly  perfect? 

(c)  Knowledge,  of  the  language  means  more  than  a  study 
of  the  rules  of  grammar,  rhetoric,  and  literature.  The 
writer  of  literature  may  write  to  express  his  thoughts,  while 
the  writer  of  direct  advertising  writes  to  impress  the  reader 
of  it.  One  product  is  written  to  he  sold,  speaking  com- 
mercially,  and  the  other  product  is  written  to  sell  otheT 
products. 


262         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

0.  Henry  in  one  of  his  stories  wrote :  ' '  There  is  a  hotel 
on  Broadway  that  is  deep  and  wide  and  cool.  Its  rooms  are 
finished  in  dark  oak  of  a  low  temperature.  Home-made 
breezes  and  deep-green  shrubbery.  ..."  Yet  it  is  not  al- 
ways that  class  of  literature,  or  what  may  be  termed  "fine- 
writing,"  that  runs  hand  in  hand  with  advertising. 

So  study  the  language  in  order  to  know  what  words  will 
impress  readers.  "Knowledge"  of  words,  paragraphs,  and 
sentences — the  raw  material  of  copy — "is  power." 

(d)  Sincerity  of  purpose  means  merely  being  honest  in 
your  copy — obvious,  but  often  a  principle  which  is  violated. 

(e)  The  purpose  of  all  direct  advertising  is  to  get  some 
one  else  to  do  what  you,  as  the  writer,  desire  should  be  done 
— whether  it  be  the  retention  of  a  mental  impression,  the 
filling  in  and  mailing  of  a  postal  card,  the  tearing  off  and 
sending  back  of  a  coupon  or  the  going  to  the  dealer  for  the 
product.  In  writing  copy,  then,  bear  in  mind  its  purpose : 
to  get  the  reader  to  act. 

One  instance  will  prove  the  value  of  copy  written  on 
this  basis:  A  charity  in  Marj^land  sent  out  five  hundred 
appeals  for  contributions  and  received  90  responses  with 
total  returns  directly  traceable  to  the  appeal  of  $1054  and 
about  $2000  was  secured  by  following  up  the  written  appeal 
by  a  personal  call.  Elsewhere,  yet  near  to  the  first  testing 
ground,  the  same  appeal,  but  written  in  different  language 
and  sent  to  a  much  larger  list — nearly  50,000 — only  secured 
a  total  of  117  replies  with  gross  funds  of  $1700. 

(/)  Specific  copy  appeals:  Chapters  XXIII  to  XXXV, 
inclusive,  or  Part  Five,  of  this  work  are  examples  indicat- 
ing how  certain  specific  copy  appeals  have  been  made  ef- 
fectively to  particular  groups  and  classes.  The  remainder 
of  this  chapter,  therefore,  will  consider  only  the  general 
angles  of  copy. 

Fig.  61  illustrates  the  old,  familiar  five  steps  of  a  sale : 
(1)  Attracting  attention ;  (2)  arousing  interest ;  (3)  creat- 
ng  desire;  (4)  satisfying  caution,  and  (5)  inciting  action, 
adapted  directly  to  the  writing  of  direct  advertising,  all  of 
which  should  be  borne  in  mind  in  studying  this  chapter, 


yritin^DingclAivcrtisinq 


ffcnefhe 
Salesmaa 
^eb  in  his 
^  workrxcrpt 

Copy  wlfh  Wuiif,      ;»"'°v 
clarify  jnd  emphasis 
do  fne/rjojbs. 


csi^ 


Action 


Here  Hie  illusfrjfions 

Her6  ouiside  o^   I 
£ff ye/ope  or  of  Am) 
COfft3/ned piece   I  j 
eef^s  in  ifs  tvorki  k 


Step  4. 
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+  Sery/ce 


2  Benefit 


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ArousB  I  \ product  or  semce/zthrms 
/Merest  /  Ks^persaffd/ /fftsrest. 


'Step  I 

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Aftenf/on 


1  Nove/fy ,           ^ 
5  fm^^/nj^/o/L 


Fig.   61. — This   illustration  gives  the  old,   familiar  five  steps   in   a 
sale,  showing  their  application  in  writing  direct-advertising  copy. 


263 


264         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

for  some  or  all  of  the  steps  may  be  taken  by  some  other  part 
of  the  direct  advertising  rather  than  the  copy. 

223.  Dimensions  of  Copy. — Tim  Thrift,  editor  of  the 
Mailhag,  a  journal  of  direct  advertising,  has  supplemented 
Mr.  Tipper's  analysis  of  copy  by  dividing  all  copy  into  four 
dimensions:  (1)  Length;  (2)  Breadth;  (3)  Depth;  and  (4) 
Height. 

* '  The  dimension  of  length  in  copy  depends  to  some  extent, 
at  least,"  writes  Mr.  Thrift,  "upon  how  extensively  a 
product  may  have  been  advertised;  how  difficult  it  may  be 
of  explanation,  and  the  purpose  to  be  accomplished — that 
is,  merely  to  keep  the  name  before  the  public  or  to  educate 
that  public  in  a  given  direction. 

"Breadth  in  copy  is  no  more  and  no  less  than  compre- 
hension of  the  people  and  conditions  you  are  addressing 
through  that  copy,  coupled  with  a  thorough  understanding 
of  the  exact  relation  of  the  thing  advertised  to  those  people 
and  conditions.  The  world  bows  to  the  man  who  knows. 
No  less  does  the  public  bow  to  and  respond  to  the  man  who 
knows — through  advertising  copy.  In  the  breadth  of  your 
copy  lies  the  conviction  with  which  your  copy  will  be  re- 
ceived. Take  up  any  advertisement  and  you  can  instantly 
detect  whether  the  person  who  wrote  it  knew  whom  he  was 
addressing,  what  he  was  talking  about,  and  the  relationship 
of  each  to  the  other. 

"With  depth  it  is  natural  to  associate  earnestness,  sin- 
cerity, honor,  and  truth.  Go  through  your  copy  and  see 
how  well  it  measures  up  to  these  standards.  Note  whether 
it  is  shallow  in  content — whether  it  sounds  as  though  writ- 
ten to  fill  space  and  not  to  fulfill  an  object.  Whether  it  is 
straightforward  and  earnest ;  rings  true  when  you  sound  it. 
Whether  it  is  sincere,  or  running  through  it  is  a  false  note 
that  should  not  be  there.  Whether  it  was  written  with 
the  honor  of  your  house  in  mind.  Whether  it  is  true,  or 
contains  statements  that  now  you  know  were  stretched  a 
point  to  make  a  point. 

"Pitch  your  copy  key  to  be  in  accord  and  in  harmony 
with  your  reader  and  you  will  have  little  occasion  to  mea- 


WRITING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  265 

sure  height.  But  how  often  we  see  technical  facts,  under- 
stood only  by  technical  men,  presented  to  the  layman.  In 
fact,  the  average  catalogue  of  the  average  manufacturer  is 
about  as  'clear  as  mud.'  " 

224.  The  Three  Principles  of  Writing  Good  Copy. — 
Three  principles  underlie  all  good  copy,  regardless  of  the 
form  the  copy  appears  in,  or  the  language  used  to  convey 
the  impression.  These  principles  are :  Unity  of  appeal,  get- 
ting over  into  your  reader's  mind  a  unified,  coherent,  single 
impression.  Clarity  of  expression,  making  your  language 
so  clear  that  it  cannot  be  misunderstood.  Correct  empha- 
sis means  placing  the  appeals  in  the  order  that  will  be  most 
effective  in  reaching  the  largest  number  of  readers.  This 
might  seem  unnecessary  to  some  readers.  "If  I  have  all 
the  proper  appeals  clearly  expressed,  why  is  the  order  of 
their  presentation  of  extreme  importance?"  One  specific 
instance  will  prove  the  point.  Read  below  the  first  two 
paragraphs  of  a  letter  sent  out  by  a  bond-selling  house, 
to  those  to  whom  an  elaborate  book  had  been  sent,  upon 
request.  The  plan  of  the  advertiser  was  to  induce  action 
by  asking  for  the  return  of  the  book  after  a  twelve-day 
interval  had  passed  without  an  order. 

Dear  Sir: 

If  you  have  decided  not  to  accept  the  invitation  to  owner- 
ship in  this  company,  kindly  return  the  book  wliich  we  sent 
you  twelve  days  ago,  in  response  to  your  request,  postage 
for  which  is  inclosed  herewith. 

If  you  have  decided  to  accept  our  invitation,  you  will  still 
be  in  time  to  secure  one  of  the 'Ownerships  allotted  to  your 
State,  if  your  application  is  mailed  promptly  upon  receipt 
of  this  letter. 

Results  from  the  mailing  of  this  letter  (the  first  two  para- 
graphs only  are  quoted)  were  not  up  to  expectations.  Then 
without  any  other  change  the  second  paragraph  was  placed 
first  and  the  first  second,  which  slight  rearrangement  pro- 
duced 40  per  cent  increase  in  returns  with  checks  attached. 

Emphasis,  it  should  be  noted,  is  often  secured  by  means 


266         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

other  than  copy;  in  fact,  more  frequently  by  mechanical 
methods,  as  set  forth  in  Chapter  XIII. 

Such  copy,  then,  as  is  built  on  these  principles  and  based 
upon  the  dimensions  set  forth  in  Section  228  parallels  the 
sales  appeal  of  the  advertiser  in  so  far  as  that  is  consistent 
with  the  sales  policies  and  the  campaign  already  planned. 
It  is  unified,  by  being  concentrated  on  a  single  dominant 
idea.  It  makes  the  right  and  easily-understood  appeal  in 
the  first  paragraph,  or  headline,  and  follows  this  through 
the  five  steps  of  a  sale  (with  the  possible  exception  or 
adaptation  of  the  fifth  step),  as  shown  in  Fig.  61.  As 
we  will  find  in  Chapter  XI,  this  copy  must  be  set  up  so  as 
to  read  logically. 

225.  Attracting  Attention  with  Copy. — The  first  para- 
graph of  a  letter  must  attract  attention  (we  are  not  now 
considering  the  outside  of  the  envelope,  or  letterhead,  of 
course).  In  Sections  25  to  27  inclusive,  we  discussed  the 
writing  of  sales  letters,  and  reference  should  be  made  to 
this  section  now. 

There  lands  on  my  desk  a  letter  from  a  man  absolutely 
unknown — even  unheard  of.  Under  his  three  names  there 
is  the  mystic  word  "Advertising."  The  letter  is  dated 
October  16,  and  this  first  paragraph  so  attracts  my  atten- 
tion that  I  read  the  rest  of  the  letter : 

Bill  Anderson  was  puzzled — perhaps,  too,  you  are  both- 
ered with  the  same  problem;  then  you'll  be  interested  in  the 
way  out. 

The  next  paragraph  gives  me  a  hint,  but  my  attention  has 
already  been  secured : 

With  Christmas  season  fast  approaching,  Bill  was  up  to 
his  neck  in  work  that  would  carry  him  over  into  the  New 
Year.     He  had  to  buy  a  gift  for  his  wife.  .  .  . 

Folders,  mailing  cards,  circulars,  blotters,  broadsides  and 
poster  stamps,  to  attract  attention  through  copy,  must  use 
headlines  and  subheads. 


WRITING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  267 

Here  is  a  folder ;  opening  it,  this  headline  faces  me : 

Have  a  Look  at  the  First  Motor  Car  Tires  Ever  Made. 

That  headline  must  attract  attention  to  the  first  folds  of  the 
folder.     Going  inside,  I  read  the  next  headline: 

We  are  the  Oldest  Makers  of  Tires  and  Tubes — We  Know 
How. 

Even  though  I  do  not  read  the  copy,  these  subheads  tell  me 
most  of  the  story : 

Guaranteed  on  a  basis  of  4,000  miles. 

Let  us  give  you  the  name  of  the  Nearest  Agent  or  Dis- 
tributor. 

On  the  Job  for  more  than  Twenty  Years. 

This  folder  indicates  how  a  caption  (copy)  under  an  illus- 
tration may  be  used  to  attract  attention,  for  there  is  an  il- 
lustration and  under  it  we  read  this  attention-attracting 
copy: 

The  first  automobile  built  in  America  by  Elwood  Haynes — 
equipped  with  the  first  automobile  tires  made  in  America  by 
the  Kokomo  Rubber  Company. 

Booklets,  envelope  inclosures,  bulletins,  portfolios,  and 
similar  pieces  to  attract  attention  through  copy  must  bear 
attractive  titles,  such  as  "The  House  that  Jack  Fixed"  for 
a  "jack-of -all-trades"  tool;  "What  Happened  on  Section 
11,"  story  of  a  test  of  red  lead;  "A  Roof  that  Saves  Coal" 
for  a  roofincj  company;  "The  Black  Mystery  Box  Ex- 
plained" for  a  primer  on  storage  batteries,  encased  in  a 
black  box;  "That  Magic  Thing  Called  Color"  for  a  book- 
et  on  interior  decoration  with  paints  and  varnishes.  Where 
the  house  organ  makes  a  claim  for  attention  by  copy,  it,  too, 
is  largely  by  the  appeal  of  its  title,  or  name,  as:  "The  Salt 
Seller,"  the  name  of  a  house  organ  for  retailers  of  a  table 
salt. 

Imagine  how  little  consideration  was  given  a  booklet  re- 
ceived by  an  advertising  firm,  which  had  this  on  the  cover 
in  letters  nearly  two  inches  high : 


268         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

THE 

WILLIAMSTOWN" 

NEWS 

Established  March  32,  1806 
(Illustration  of 
involved  seal) 

GREATER  WILLIAMSTOWN'S 
GREATEST   NEWSPAPER 

This  booklet  came  unheralded  and  unsung — it  had  no 
teaser  campaign  ahead  of  it,  it  had  not  an  accompanying 
letter  to  "sell"  it.  The  advertising  manager  was  not  par- 
ticularly interested  in  Williamstown.  (The  names  are 
fictitious  but  the  piece,  unfortunately,  is  not.)  Such  an 
"outside"  as  this  surely  did  not  arouse  any  interest.  Even 
at  the  moment  this  page  is  written  the  advertising  manager 
has  not  read  the  inside  pages.  lie  is  merely  keeping  the 
booklet  as  an  example  of  how  not  to  use  direct  advertising. 

"October  Tenth"  is  the  title  of  a  one-color  envelope 
inclosure  which  attracted  attention.  The  title  was  the  date 
upon  which  a  certain  business  magazine  would  appear. 
"She  threw  the  dish-water  on  him  and  broke  his  heart"  is 
the  rather  long  but  attention-getting  copy  used  on  the 
cover  of  another  inclosure.  "Are  your  farm  buildings 
fireproof?"  represents  still  another  type  of  "copy"  attract- 
ing attention  to  an  envelope  inclosure. 

Do  not  misunderstand ;  there  are  many  other  ways  of 
attracting  attention,  either  physical,  mechanical,  or  ps^'cho- 
logical.  In  tliis  section  we  are  dealing  only  with  attract- 
ing attention  by  means  of  copy.  All  attention  is  secured 
either  by  an  appeal  to  the  tendencies  of  the  time — such  as 
by  a  presidential  election  every  four  years;  novelty,  such 
as  a  novel  mechanical  appeal,  or  a  novel  statement  as  set 
forth  in  a  preceding  paragraph:  and  imagination,  illus- 
trated by  titles  already  referred  to.  While  copy  can  be 
used  to  make  all  these  three  appeals  in  the  waj^s  indicated, 
there  are  other  factors  to  be  considered. 

See  Section  246  for  further  discussion  on  the  very  im- 
portant topic  of  writing  titles  for  booklets,  inclosures,  etc. 


WRITING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  269 

226.  Arousing  Interest  by  Copy. — Attention  having 
been  attracted  either  by  copy  or  other  factors,  the  next 
step  (see  Fig.  61)  is  to  arouse  interest.  To  transfer  the 
attention  to  the  product  or  service  in  terms  of  personal 
interest. 

Hollingworth  in  "Advertising  and  Selling:  Principles 
of  Appeal  and  Response"  gives  these  eight  interest  incen- 
tives : 

1.  Novelty,  bizarre  effects,  unusual  devices  and  statements. 

2.  Color:  brightness,  tone,  and  harmony. 

3.  Illustration :  cuts,  photographs,  sketches. 

4.  Action :  suggested  activity  on  the  part  of  persons  or  things. 

5.  The  comic:  pictorial  and  verbal  humor. 

6.  Feeling  tone:  pleasantness,  excitement,  strain,  and  their 

opposites. 

7.  Instinctive  response:   any  appeal  to  a  fundamental  in- 

stinct. 

8.  Effective  conceptions:   appeal  to  established  habits  and 

ideals. 

Not  all  of  these  can  be  secured  in  direct  advertising, 
and  many  of  them  are  secured  by  mechanical  factors  to  be 
discussed  in  Part  Four. 

W.  S.  Zimmerman,  of  the  A.  W.  Shaw  Company,  in  speak- 
ing before  the  Cleveland  Direct  Advertising  convention, 
said  that  the  first  thing  they  considered  whether  they 
were  selling  a  man,  collecting  from  him,  or  adjusting  a 
complaint,  was  to  "consider  which  one  of  the  motives — 
love,  gain,  duty,  pride,  self-indulgence,  self-preservation — 
will  make  that  man  think  and  act  our  way." 

But  no  matter  what  interest  incentive  is  used,  or  motive 
acted  upon,  generally  speaking  all  copy  is  to  accomplish  one 
or  more  of  the  purposes  set  forth  in  Section  186. 

Take  the  three  cases  already  suggested  in  Section  225. 
Note  how  by  copy  alone,  in  the  case  of  the  letter,  my  inter- 
est is  transferred  from  Bill  Anderson's  problem  to  mine — 
buying  a  Christmas  present  for  my  wife. 

Assuming  that  I  have  a  motor  car,  my  attention  is  at- 
tracted by  the  statement  about  the  makers  of  the  first  motor- 


270         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

car  tires,  and  then  the  headline  transfers  that  attention  to 
interest  as  indicated. 

Even  the  enigmatical  phrase,  "October  Tenth,"  becomes 
intelligible  the  moment  I  open  up  and  read  this  headline : 

November 

BUSINESS 

is  out  October  10.     Here's 
a  glimpse   of  its   contents. 

Now  for  one  example  where  copy  must  start  right  in  with 
appetite  whetted  by  a  high-degree,  attention-getting  title, 
"She  threw  the  dish-water  on  him  and  broke  his  heart." 
Jumping  from  attention  to  interest  might  seem  hard  to  do 
there,  but  listen : 

Homer  Croy  has  written  a  new  novel  and  maybe  you'll 
want  to  read  it.  If  you  have  ever  been  a  boy,  or  if  you 
have  ever  been  a  girl,  or  know  any  one  who  has,  you'll 
like  it. 

Turkey  Bowman — "Turkey"  because  he  was  as  freckled  as 
a  turkey  egg — loved  a  girl  dearly  but,  when  stealing  to  her 
window  and  looking  up  in  the  soft  moonlight  he  sang  to  her 
sweetly  and  she  threw  the  dish-water  on  him,  the  camel's 
back  was  broken  for  the  last  time. 

Whose  interest  would  not  be  aroused  by  "human"  copy 
like  that  ?  I  know  not  who  wrote  this  little  inclosure  but 
it  is  one  of  the  few  book  announcements  that  I  can  recall 
ever  reading  in  its  entirety.  In  one  color  only,  of  ordinary 
set-up,    with   no    illustrations   it    is   an   appeal    entirely 

THROUGH  COPY. 

227.  Creating  Desire  by  Copy. — Our  next  step  (see 
Fig.  61)  is  so  to  fan  the  sparks  of  interest  that  they  become 
flames  of  desire.  The  eternal  triangle  of  creating  desire 
is  formed  by  showing  the  reader:  (1)  Profit,  (2)  Benefit, 
(3)  Enjoyment,  or  a  combination  of  one  or  more  of  these 
desirable  things. 

That  our  illustrations  may  have  the  most  practical  value, 
we  will  again  refer  to  pieces  spoken  of  in  preceding  sec- 
tions. 


WRITING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  271 

Every  man  wants  to  give  his  wife  a  Christmas  gift — 
he  may  not  be  able  to  give  her  what  he  wants  to  give,  but 
he  has  the  desire — for  her  benefit.  He  also  probably  wants 
to  get  the  best  he  can  for  his  investment — profit.  He  also 
wants  to  dodge  the  responsibility  of  picking  the  gift — 
enjoyment.  The  following  additional  quotations  from  the 
letter  we  quoted  in  part  in  Section  225  will  show  how  some 
shrewd  writer  of  letters  (copy)  turned  attention  into  inter- 
est and  interest  into  desire: 

.  .  .  and  he  wondered  when  he'd  get  the  time  to  look  around. 
He  needed  a  gift  that  would  be  valued,  it  had  to  be  within 
reach  of  his  purse,  but  most  of  all  he  wanted  something  that 
would  be  different  from  the  general  run  of  gifts  that  come  in 
at  Christmas. 

He  had  his  secretary  write  me  for  the  solution,  told  me 
how  much  he  could  spend  and-  "passed  the  buck"  to  me,  re- 
minding me  to  be  sure  it  reached  him  before  Christmas. 

The  morning  after  Bill's  letter  came  in  I  shipped  him  one 
of  those  sturdy,  unique  Navalio  rugs — one  of  Wah-Pee-Tse's 
own  creations;  took  a  chance  on  the  size  and  prepaid  the 
charge. 

228.  Satisfying  Caution  by  Copy. — The  rug-selling  let- 
ter we  have  quoted  has  by  its  copy  already  offset  several  of 
the  inhibiting  cautions  that  stop  many  actions  already 
started.  As  we  find  in  Fig.  61  the  satisfying  of  caution 
is  done  by  (1)  Overcoming  objections,  such  as  objections  to 
color  of  a  rug,  for  example,  or  size;  (2)  price;  (3)  terras, 
and  (4)  service.  The  paragraphs  (copy)  already  quoted 
have  probably  disarmed  us  on  minor  objections,  such  as 
Friend  Wife  not  liking  the  rug,  and  yet  the  cautious  man 
will  be  thinking:  "But  was  Bill  Anderson  satisfied?" 
Listen  to  the  remainder  of  the  letter,  note  how  it  reaffirms 
the  fact  that  price  is  not  to  be  a  deterring  factor — the 
reader  sets  the  price  he  will  pay:  and  next,  note  bow  the 
final  possible  objection,  lack  of  delivery  on  time,  is  swept 
away,  and  finally  note  the  appeal  for  action  (see  Section 
229)  : 


272         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

His  secretary  has  written  me  that  Bill's  been  smiling  se- 
renely ever  since  and  doing  the  work  of  two  men.  I  wonder 
if  his  experience  might  not  lead  you  to  decide  your  own  gift- 
problems  in  a  similar  manner? 

May  I  not  select  a  blanket  or  rug  for  you  as  would  give 
you  ample  opportunity  to  find  out  how  much  better  is  such  a 
gift  and  at  a  lower  cost?  Your  order,  then,  started  on  its 
way  to-day  will  soon  bring  the  solution  to  that  Christmas- 
gift  problem.     Will  you  mail  it  to-day? 

With  all  good  wishes, 

Yours  for  a  happy  Christmas, 

(Signature.) 

In  some  pieces,  of  course,  caution  is  not  satisfied.  Take 
the  envelope  inclosure  about  Homer  Croy's  book.  The 
price  is  mentioned  and  instructions  are  given  how  to  buy, 
but  there  is  no  satisfying  of  caution ;  it  is  not  necessary  in 
this  instance.  The  tire  folder,  however,  satisfied  our  cau- 
tion by  displaying  as  a  subhead : 

Guaranteed  on  a  basis  of  4,000  miles 

and  under  this  we  read : 

Put  out  under  a  strong  guarantee — a  guarantee  that  is 
more  than  a  high-sounding  jumble  of  words — a  guarantee 
that  is  backed  up  by  practice — Kokomo  tires  are  the  tires 
j^ou  can  recommend  in  the  strongest  terms. 

Then  just  a  little  farther  down  we  read  this  satisfaction 
of  caution  about  price,  with  a  side-subhead  (see  Section 
285)  : 

AS  TO  PRICE — our  facilities  for  economical  production  are 
the  best,  no  extra  overhead  here — our  selling  cost  is  cut 
right  down  to  the  lowest  point  by  our  special  system  of 
distribution — our  costs  are  the  lowest  of  any  tire  manufac- 
tured— and  you  get  the  benefit. 

229.  Inciting  Action  by  Copy. — ''Will  you  mail  it  to- 
day?" in  the  latter  part  of  letter  quoted  in  Section  228 
is  copy  that  incites  the  reader  to  action.  That  letter  is  a 
piece  of  mail-order  copy ;  its  aim  was  to  get  a  direct  order. 


WRITING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  273 

The  Kokomo  tire  folder  had  for  its  aim  only  to  get  the 
reader  to  inquire  for  the  name  of  the  local  agent,  and  we 
have  a  subhead :  "Let  us  give  you  the  name  of  the  Nearest 
Agent  or  Distributor,"  followed  by  an  arrow  leading  our 
eye  to  a  postal  card  which  reads: 

Kokomo  Rubber  Company, 

Kokomo,  Indiana. 
Gentlemen : 

Please  send  me  the  name  of  the  nearest  agent  or  distribu- 
tor of  Kokomo  tires. 

There  is  space  for  signature  and  address  under  the  above 
copy. 

The  Homer  Croy  book  inclosure  incites  action  in  this 
wise: 

If  you  can't  get  a  copy  at  the  nearest  book  store,  send  us 
$1.90  and  we'll  see  that  Turkey  is  yours. 

"October  Tenth"  has  for  its  purpose  impression  only, 
not  action,  and  incites  no  action  by  its  copy. 

"Are  your  farm  buildings  fireproof?"  in  several  ways 
incites  to  action,  direct  and  indirect.  Within  on  the  main 
display  pages  we  find  heavily  displayed  this  copy: 

Build  with  Natco  Hollow  Tile. 

In   the   index   finger   pointed  to   this  we   find   displayed, 
smaller,  this  action-inciting  copy: 

We  have  plans  for  farm  buildings  of  many  kinds.     Write 
us  to-day. 

On  the  back  fold  more  action-inciting  copy : 

Send  for  Natco  plans — free. 

We  have  plans  for  many  kinds  of  farm  buildings  and  will 
help  you — free.     Tell  us  what  you  intend  to  build. 

In  all  direct  advertising  except  mail-order  or  advertising 
which  only  aims  to  get  inquiries,  the  fifth  step  of  Fig.  61 
is  taken  by  the  salesman — retail,  wholesale,  or  manufac- 
turer, and  not  by  the  copy. 


274         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Copy  which  will  make  your  readers  take  some  or  all  of 
these  steps  may  be  broadly  classified  into :  Information, 
News,  Educational,  Human-Interest  and  Reason-Why  copy. 

230.  Information  Copy. — Railroad  time-tables,  menus, 
and  the  like  are  information  copy  in  the  direct-advertising 
field.  Here  is  an  envelope  inclosure  which  informs  me 
that  I  can  use  the  Boston  &  Maine  railroad  to  and  from 
Buffalo,  Niagara  Falls,  Detroit,  and  Chicago.  It  is  not  a 
new  train  that  has  been  announced ;  it  is  an  old  one,  there- 
fore not  "news,"  and  since  the  piece  contains  no  selling 
copy  of  any  class,  it  is  a  pure  announcement,  or  informa- 
tion copy.  This  is  the  lowest  form  of  advertising,  though 
it  may  be  valuable.  One  of  the  Western  railroads  in- 
creased dining-car  returns  by  putting  an  announcement 
(information  copy)  in  each  seat  prior  to  the  train  leaving 
the  terminal  in  the  evening. 

231.  News  Copy  Plays  Up  News  Features. — "The  New 
Standard  Dictionary"  defines  "news"  as  "fresh  informa- 
tion concerning  something  that  has  recently  taken  place." 
News  in  the  writing  of  copy  is  not  necessarily  of  recent  hap- 
pening provided  it  is  not  an  old  story  to  the  audience  to 
whom  it  is  addressed. 

House  organs  are,  of  course,  large  users  of  news  copy  and 
readers  are  referred  to  "Effective  House  Organs"  for  a 
thorough  analysis  of  gathering  news  for  use  in  house  organs. 

While  the  campaign  for  the  Republican  nominations  of 
1920  was  in  progress,  the  Metropolitan  magazine  issued  a 
blotter  bearing  the  illustration  of  General  Leonard  Wood 
speaking  and  this  copy  under  it: 

The  candidates  concentrate  their  work  in  one  state;  the 
next  primary  may  be  in  a  state  two  thousand  miles  away ;  and 
the  one  following  as  many  miles  back. 

It  goes  on  to  announce  (information  copy)  that  General 
Wood  will  write  an  article,  "Primary  Laws  and  Public- 
ity," in  the  next  number. 

Because  of  the  interweaving  of  "fresh"  information  this 
blotter  is  a  good  example  of  the  news  copy  angle. 


WRITING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  275 

232.  Often  Educational  Copy  Is  Also  Called  Institu- 
tional Copy. — ' '  Discovering  New  Facts  about  Paper, ' '  pre- 
viously referred  to  in  Section  39,  is  a  piece  of  educational 
direct-advertising  copy.  Sometimes  this  is  referred  to  as 
institutional  copy,  because  it  primarily  endeavors  directly 
or  indirectly  to  create  interest  in  the  institution  getting  it 
out  through  an  educational  appeal.  A  catalogue  which  in- 
cludes data  of  general  interest  is  educational  to  that  extent. 
For  example,  "The  Book  of  Better  Business,"  illustrated  on 
Fig.  16,  is  an  instance  of  an  educational  catalogue  which 
was  placed  on  file  in  a  large  number  of  libraries, 

233.  Human-interest  Copy  Appeals  to  Human  Nature. 
— Instead  of  writing  out  a  cold,  clammy  announcement 
(information)  about  the  train  referred  to  in  Section  230, 
there  could  have  been  written  a  fine  human-interest  story 
telling  how  Engineer  Thomas  McSomebody,  who  had  been 
running  that  train  on  time  for  some  ten  years,  was  still  on 
the  job  and  would  be  glad  to  serve  the  reader  on  his  next 
trip  to  Buffalo,  Detroit,  or  Chicago.  Human-interest  copy 
is  an  appeal  to  the  senses  or  emotions  of  the  reader.  The 
letter  about  a  Christmas  present  for  your  wife,  quoted  in 
preceding  sections  of  this  chapter,  is  a  fine  example  of 
human-interest  copy. 

Read  these  few  sentences  from  a  human-interest  sales 
letter,  by  Louis  Victor  Eytinge,  who  is  a  specialist  in  this 
line  of  copy : 

Dad's  upstairs  with  a  trained  nurse  watching  him.  Al- 
though he  is  improving  rapidly,  he  cannot  be  bothered  much 
about  business. 

He  broke  two  ribs  and  one  leg  in  an  auto  accident.  In 
avoiding  a  baby's  go-cart,  the  machine  skidded  into  a  tele- 
graph pole  and  the  doctors  say  .  .  . 

Do  you  want  to  read  the  rest  of  that  letter?  That  proves 
its  value  as  an  interest-creator  and  holder.  (The  complete 
letter  and  many  others  of  a  like  character  will  be  found  in 
Postage  for  March,  1917,  page  104.)  Lack  of  space  forbids 
our  quoting  it  here  in  full.     But  Dad's  daughter,  who  sent 


276         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

out  this  letter  while  Dad  actually  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
trained  nurse,  produced  by  means  of  this  human-interest 
copy  $27,000  worth  op  business  in  one  month  or  about 

DOUBLE  that  OF  THE  BEST  PREVIOUS  MONTH  IN  THE  HISTORY 

OF  THAT  ORGANIZATION.  This  appeal  to  the  heart  was  fol- 
lowed by  an  appeal  for  orders:  ''Make  your  orders  this 
month  just  as  heavy  as  possible;  I  can  show  him  a  sales 
sheet,"  etc. 

In  Chapter  XXI  you  will  find  the  story  of  a  wonderful 
result  produced  by  an  appeal  to  human  interest,  "heart 
copy." 

234.  When  to  Use  the  Human-interest  Appeal. — Let  it 
be  recorded,  though,  that  human-interest,  or  heart,  appeals 
will  not  always  be  best.  We  know  of  a  campaign  to  sell 
real  estate  which  was  based  entirely  upon  the  heart,  or 
human-interest  appeal.  It  failed  miserably.  Whereas  a 
famous  New  York  operator  in  western  Canada  at  a  cost  of  a 
little  over  $40,000  sold  $475,000  worth  of  real  estate,  paving 
the  way  by  direct  advertising,  based  entirely  upon  a  money 
appeal — "How  to  make  money  in  real  estate."  The  latter 
campaign  was  based  on  "reason- why"  copy,  which  will  be 
explained  in  Section  236. 

Prof.  George  Burton  Hotehkiss,  of  the  New  York  Univer- 
sity, and  author  of  several  text-books  on  advertising,  has 
analyzed  human-interest  copy  as  appropriate  for: 

1.  Products  for  personal  use,  such  as  toilet  articles,  jewelry, 

clothing  accessories. 

2.  Products  for  family  use  that  help  in  the  enjoyment  of  life; 

musical  instruments,  toys,  and  the  like. 

3.  Products  that  touch  upon  personal  safety  or  life  and  health 

of  the  individual  or  members  of  his  family,  such  as  insur- 
ance, safety  windows,  revolvers,  fire-iighting  equipment, 
etc. 

4.  Products  purchased  frequently  such  as  gifts,  silverware, 

books,  flowers,  and  the  like. 

5.  Nearly  all  foods  and  edibles,  including  smoking  materials, 

especially  when  purchased  for  enjoyment  rather  than 
for  nourishment. 


WRITING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  277 

234A.  Human-interest  Appeal  May  Be  Made  from  the 
Standpoint  of  the  Advertiser. — In  Sections  232  and  233 
we  dealt  largely  with  using  the  human-interest  appeal  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  addressee,  but  you  may  also  use  the 
human-interest  appeal  from  the  standpoint  of  the  adver- 
tiser. Burton  Bigelow,  in  Postage  for  November,  1917,  tells 
a  very  interesting  story  showing  how  human  interest  was 
used  primarily  from  the  standpoint  of  the  automobile  re- 
pairman. A  personality  was  conceived  for  the  "Repair- 
man," a  picture  represented  him,  and  a  mechanic's  hand- 
writing created  a  strong  appeal  to  human  interest. 

235.  Several  Methods  of  Making  an  Appeal  to  Senses 
and  Emotions. — How  you  aire  to  apply  the  human-interest 
copy  to  your  problem  depends  upon  what  you  are  adver- 
tising. If  it  is  a  perfume,  you  appeal  to  the  sense  of  smell 
through  words  and  pictures.  If  candy,  to  the  sense  of 
taste,  and  so  on.  These  appeals  may  be  made  by  picturing 
or  describing  how  some  one  elfse  enjoyed  the  product  or 
service,  thus  putting  the  appeal  indirectly.  Copy  which 
aims  to  inspire  the  reader  to  "go  thou  and  do  likewise"  is 
a  human-interest  appeal. 

"If  the  Fire  Bell  Rings  To-night"  as  a  headline  for  a 
four-page  illustrated  sales  letterhead  is  an  appeal  to  the 
fear  of  the  individual  and  therefore  a  human-interest  ap- 
peal. Sometimes  such  an  appeal  is  justifiable,  as  suggested 
in  Section  234. 

236.  Reason-why  Copy  Appeals  to  the  Reader's 
Reason  Rather  than  to  His  Senses  or  Emotions. — Some 
maintain  that  there  is  a  larger  field  for  the  use  of  reason- 
why  copy  than  for  human-interest.  As  nearly  as  we  can 
find  this  is  largely  based  on  the  claim  that  reason-why 
copy  is  almost  always  "safe."  The  writer  is  inclined  to 
agree  with  E.  G.  Weir,  who,  in  speaking  at  the  Indianapolis 
convention  of  the  Associated  Advertising  Clubs,  emphasized 
the  fact  that  there  were  just  two  ways  of  conveying  a  defi- 
nite impression :     By 

a.  Power  of  direct  suggestion,  or 

b.  Power  of  indirect  suggestion. 


278         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Of  these  two  Mr.  Weir  believed  the  second  (b)  to  be  the 
more  powerful  method.  He  said :  ''When  a  sales  appeal  is 
made  to  the  seat  of  judgment  (reason)  the  prospect  is 
prompted  to  ask  the  price  at  once  in  order  to  safeguard 
his  personal  interests  and  the  sale  is  often  lost."  While 
he  added:  "When  the  appeal  is  to  the  feeling-mind,  fa- 
vorable attention  is  aroused;  develops  interest,  impels  in- 
vestigation ;  and  stimulates  desire,  without  arousing  the 
question  of  price,  because  the  question  of  price  is  not  the 
determining  factor  in  the  feeling-mind." 

Since  our  feeling-mind  is  dominated  by  love  of  self,  love 
of  family,  love  of  friends,  pride,  comfort,  and  the  like, 
human  interest  is  a  powerful  form  of  copy,  when  properly 
applied. 

Reason-why  implies  deliberation,  and  a  decision.  The 
copy  must  make  the  reader  recognize  the  need ;  then  make 
the  reader's  mind  admit  that  the  product  advertised  will 
supply  that  need;  prove  that  the  product  investigated  fills 
the  need  better  than  any  competing  article;  and  finally, 
make  the  decision  to  buy. 

237.  Testimonials  and  Other  Evidence  Used  in  Reason- 
why  Copy. — Patent-medicine  businesses  were  built  and 
grew,  like  the  bay  tree  of  olden  days,  upon  testimonials. 
Testimonials  are  evidence  that  some  one  else  has  used  your 
product  and  found  it  satisfactory.  As  Charles  L.  CoUette, 
advertising  manager  of  the  Kewanee  Boiler  Company,  wrote 
in  an  article  in  Printers'  Ink,  October  29,  1914,  "The 
opinion  of  the  man  who  has  tried  a  product  has  always 
been  and  will  always  be  a  very  important  factor  in  any 
sales  or  advertising  effort. ' '  Yet,  as  he  instantly  added : 
".  .  .  there  is  probably  no  advertising  possibility  that  is 
more  often  misused  and  abused  than  the  use  of  testimonial 
letters." 

The  value  of  testimonials,  written  or  implied  through  pic- 
ture or  other  illustration,  is  based  upon  him  who  gives  the 
testimonial  and  what  he  says.     In  other  words,  a  good  testi- 


WRITING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  279 

monial  should  be  specific.  Not,  "We  have  used  your  prod- 
uct with  satisfactory  results, ' '  but  if  possible :  ' '  By  using 
your  adding  machine  we  saved  the  time  of  one  bookkeeper 
at  $1,000  per  year." 

Mr.  Collette  in  the  article  referred  to  hit  upon  one  of  the 
weaknesses  of  many  testimonials  when  he  said:  ''We  do 
not  believe  in  sending  testimonials  out  of  their  field  of 
natural  influence."  In  other  words,  localize  your  testi- 
monials, or  PERSONALIZE  them  by  vocations,  sex,  or  in  some 
other  way  bring  them  home  to  the  reader. 

238.  When  to  Use  Reason-why  Copy. — There  is  of 
course  considerable  argument  possible  as  to  just  where  to 
use  either  human-interest  or  reason-why  (or  their  combina- 
ion),  or  news,  educational,  and  information  copy,  but  hav- 
ing, quoted  Professor  Hotchkiss'  rules  as  to  use  of  human 
interest  in  Section  233,  let  us  set  off  against  them  his  rules 
for  the  use  of  reason-why  copy: 

1.  Products  bought  for  investment  purposes,  such  as  real 

estate,  advertising,  and  the  like. 

2.  Products    bought   for   building  purposes;    roofing,   wall- 

board,  lumber,  etc. 

3.  Products  bought  for  business,  industrial  and  agricultural 

uses,  such  as  machinery,  tools,  office  devices,  etc. 

4.  Products  bought  not  for  their  own  value  but  as  accessories; 

automobile  accessories,  tires,  boots,  shoes,  etc. 

5.  Products  in  fields  where  competition  is  keen,  such  as  auto- 

mobiles, etc. 

239.  Most  Copy  Partakes  of  All  Five  Forms  of  Appeal. 

— Most  good  copy  partakes  of  all  of  the  five  forms  of  copy 
appeal  covered  in  Sections  230  to  238,  inclusive.  The  fol- 
lowing copy  quoted  from  an  issue  of  The  Larkin  Idea,  a 
house  organ  of  Larkin  Company,  a  mail-order  house,  under 
the  heading:  "New  Catalogue  Being  Mailed  to  Every  Sec- 
retary," is  an  excellent  example  of  skillful  copy-writing 
ivhich  partakes  of  all  five  phases  of  copy : 

In  the  same  envelope  \vith  this  "Larkin  Idea"  is  our  new 
Spring-and-Summer  catalogue.  And  what  a  catalogue  it  is! 
From  first  page  to  last  if  is  brimful  of  interest  to  every  one 


280         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

of  our  customers.  There  are  fifty-eight  new  products  and 
a  big  number  of  attractive  new  rugs,  beautiful  new  lamps 
and  electric  fixtures,  new  storage  chests,  and  an  assortment 
of  smart  spring  wearing  apparel  that  will  delight  every  one 
who  sees  it. 

We  have  mailed  this  new  catalogue  to  you  for  two  reasons : 

First — We  want  our  secretaries  to  be  the  first  one  to 
have  the  advantage  of  our  new  offers. 

Second — We  want  you  all  to  know  as  soon  as  possible 
how  Larkin  Company  has  solved  the  great  problem  that  is 
confronting  most  manufacturers  to-day — namely,  the  difii- 
culty  on  account  of  the  European  war  of  getting  the  mate- 
rials with  which  to  make  our  goods,  and  the  increasing 
prices  which  we  are  compelled  to  pay  for  many  of  these 
materials. 

Have  we  had  to  discontinue  making  any  of  our  products? 
Have  we  had  to  raise  our  prices  like  the  stores  have  dohe? 

Yes,  we  have  had  to  discontinue  a  few  of  our  products 
on  account  of  the  difficulty  and  the  increased  expense  of  get- 
ting the  materials  with  which  to  make  them.  When  market 
conditions  improve,  we  hope  to  offer  these  products  again. 

On  other  articles  affected  by  the  war,  we  have  worked  and 
worked,  until  we  have  found  ways  and  means  of  still  offering 
them  to  you  at  but  slightly  increased  prices,  and  maintain- 
ing the  usual  standard  of  Larkin  quality.  Take  your  old 
favorite.  Sweet  Home  Soap,  for  example.  Tliis  is  a  prod- 
uct which  we  have  always  sold  to  you  at  pretty  nearly  what 
it  cost  us  to  make  it.  Then  came  the  war  with  its  great  de- 
mands for  tallow  and  other  materials  of  which  soap  is  made. 
They  are  being  used  to-day  in  making  ammunition.  In 
Russia  the  people  are  even  eating  tallow  in  place  of  butter. 
Think  of  it! 

Of  course,  the  price  of  these  materials  has  gone  way  up 
and  some  of  them  can  scarcely  be  obtained  at  all.  Tallow, 
for  example,  which  is  the  chief  material  used  in  making  soap, 
is  costing  us  far  more  than  what  it  did  formerly.  And  what 
is  true  of  Sweet  Home  is  equally  true  of  our  Maid  o'  the  Mist 
Floating  Bath  Soap.  Knowing  this,  you  would  naturally 
expect  that  we  would  have  to  raise  the  price  considerably 
in  our  new  catalogue,  just  as  other  manufacturers  of  soap 
are  doing  or  planning  to  do.  Tou  will  be  pleased  to  hear, 
however,  that  we  have  decided  to  raise  the  price  only  one  cent 


WRITING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  281 

■  a  bar.  When  you  consider  that  any  one  may  buy  Larkin 
products  without  premiums  at  one-half  the  list  prices,  this 
makes  the  actual  increase  in  prices  only  one-half  cent  a  bar. 

While  this  does  not  cover  the  increase  in  cost  of  soap- 
making  materials  to  us,  it  will  at  least  enable  us  to  continue 
an  offer  of  the  only  laundry  and  floating  bath  soaps  in  this 
country  with  which  are  given  such  big  extra  value  as  is 
represented  by  Larkin  premiums.  So  too  with  our  toilet 
soaps.  Here  again  the  cost  of  materials  has  gone  'way  up, 
but  we  have  increased  the  prices  but  slightly. 

And  so  you  see  the  conditions  that  confront  us  and  other 
manufacturers.  Yet  despite  the  tremendous  increases  to  us 
in  the  cost  of  raw  materials,  we  have  increased  the  prices  on 
only  one-twelfth  of  our  products!  And  it  is  all  a  result  of 
our  careful  painstaking  policy  to  keep  our  prices  down,  in  a 
time  when  everything  is  scarce  and  "sky-high." 

This  is  something  we  want  you  to  bear  in  mind  and  to  tell 
all  your  club  members  when  they  learn  that  Larkin,  too,  has 
at  last  been  compelled  to  raise  some  of  its  prices.  Assure 
them  for  us  that  we  have  raised  our  prices  only  where  present- 
day  conditions  have  made  it  absolutely  necessary,  and  show 
them  that  they  always  get  premium-value  with  their  pur- 
chases that  almost  doubles  the  return  for  their  money. 

This  house-organ  article  (copy)  is  information  copy,  for 
it  announces  a  price  advance.  Unthinking  copy-writers,  or 
firms  who  do  not  get  their  business  entirely  by  mail  and 
herefore  who  do  not  know  the  value  of  thought  in  writing, 
would  have  written:  "Effective,  January  24th,  our  prices 
will  be  advanced  Umpty-steen  per  cent.  Please  change 
your  catalogue  accordingly." 

It  is  news,  as  the  Larkin  Company  has  handled  it. 

It  unmistakably  carries  an  educational  message  to  the 
company's  ''secretaries"  who  are  its  local  selling  agents. 

It  has  human  interest,  slightly ;  note  war  references  and 
the  remark  about  Russia.  All  the  price  advance  was 
hinged  on  soap  probably  because  of  its  universal  appeal 
and  the  Russian  example. 

It  also  has  reason-why  for  it  appeals  to  your  reason,  your 
judgment. 


282         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

240.  Humor  Must  Be  Handled  with  Extreme  Care. — 

When  you  write  humorous  copy  in  direct  advertising  you 
must  use  extreme  care,  for  most  people  insist  upon  taking 
business  as  serious.  Fig.  44  A  shows  how  an  addressing- 
machine  company  used  the  appeal.  The  following,  taken 
from  an  envelope  inclosure  gotten  out  by  a  firm  manufac- 
turing a  packing  material,  was  headed:  **A  New  George 
Washington  Story": 

This  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  Original  Cherry  Tree 
Tale,  but,  to  use  the  words  of  a  prominent  American — it  has 
the  other  "Beaten  to  a  frazzle." 

Mr.  George  Washington,  Chief  Engineer  of  The  Emery- 
Bird-Thayer  Dry  Goods  Company  .  .  . 
The  Patterson-Kelley  Company,  water-heating  engineers, 
are  users  of  what  they  call  "jazz"  (humorous)  letters  to 
reach  laundry  owners  and  operators ;  these  will  be  com- 
mented upon  further  in  Chapter  XXIV. 

The  aid  of  the  cartoonist  is  usually  sought,  as  in  Fig. 
44  A,  to  take  the  ''sting"  out  of  humorous  copy  appeals. 

Fig.  62  illustrates  the  cover  and  one  specimen  inside  page 
of  a  humorous  booklet  which  was  published  by  the  Acme 
Motor  Truck  Company,  Cadillac,  Michigan.  This  was 
made  up  from  cartoons  which  had  previously  appeared  in 
their  house  organ  (same  size)  and  they  report  of  it: 
"Proved  to  be  a  very  effective  piece  and  very  much  in  de- 
mand by  the  dealers."  Each  page  showed  a  different  ac- 
complishment of  "Al  and  his  Acme."  This  handling  is 
not  only  clever  but  effective. 

The  cloak  and  suit  industry  in  New  York  City  eliminated 
several  trade  abuses  by  having  a  series  of  humorous  letters 
mailed  to  the  offenders  in  the  trade.  These  letters  were  so 
humorous  that  almost  without  change  they  were  subse- 
quently collected  and  published  in  book  form  by  one  of  the 
New  York  publishing  houses. 

W.  S.  Ashby,  advertising  manager  Western  Clock  Co., 
makers  of  Big  Ben  clocks,  whose  advertising  is  full  of 
human  interest,  in  addressing  the  Detroit  convention,  made 
an  excellent  point  against  cleverness  in  copy  when  he  said : 
"I  am  afraid  what  too  many  men  try  to  do,  when  they  sit 


WRITING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


283 


down  to  write  direct  advertising  or  letters,  is  to  write  for 
the  advertising  men,  rather  than  for  the  box  office;  they 
are  trying  to  get  some  advertising  friend  to  slap  them  on 
the  back  and  say :     '  That 's  a  bully  thing  you  got  out ;  that 's 


FROH  SPAVINS  to 


^mJFml^ 


WHEH  AL  TME 

,TOWM   TRAHSflR 

HAN   AOQPTED 

TME    MOTOR 

.^^.^    _.  TRUCK 


RAPIDLY     ^ 
FRQH  TOWN  ^ 
BRAYMAH  TO  \ 
PR£SIBSH7  OF    **| 
THE   COHSOllOATiO  '^'^<^tt»4>^^'^ 
MOTOR  EXPRSSS   UHESa    ^      " 

A     GRAPHIC    STORY  IN  PICTURES 


'^^^•^^i?^ 
^•;ij». 


Fig.  62. — The  man  who  planned  this  booklet  first  ran  the  series 
in  a  house  organ,  and  thus  made  a  saving  in  engraving  costs.     The 
work  of  the  cartoonist  was  used  to  "get  over"'  with  its  humorous 
appeal  an  unpleasant  truth. 

one  of  the  cleverest  circulars  or  broadsides  I  have  ever  seen, ' 

instead  of  trying  to  write  direct  advertising  which  sings 

'Home  Sweet  Home'  to  some  of  the  wandering  dollars." 


284         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

You  need  not  be  ''clever"  to  write  human-interest  copy 
— copy  appealing  to  the  emotions  rather  than  the  intellect. 

241.  Cleverness  in  Copy  Is  a  Two-edged  Sword. — 
While  a  certain  amount  of  what  might  be  termed  relevant 
cleverness  in  copy  may  be  worth  while,  remember  it  is  a 
two-edged  sword  and  must  be  handled  as  carefully  as  humor, 
if  not  more  carefully.  There  is  always  a  danger  when 
using  cleverness  that,  to  paraphrase  the  famous  Simmons 
slogan,  "the  thought  of  the  cleverness  will  remain  long  after 
the  buying  impulse  has  been  forgotten." 

A  stencil-machine  company  got  good  results  from  a  clever 
letter  the  first  paragraph  of  which  read : 

Are  you  slipping  in  your  shipping  room? 
H.  McJohnston,  in  Printers'  Ink  (November  15,  1917),  com- 
pares this  with  the  following  opening  paragraph  from  a 
clever,  too  clever  letter : 

Talk  about — 

OPTIMISM 

Yes,  I'm  full  of  it. 
Why  shouldn't  I  be? 
My  business  is  booming! 

IS   YOURS? 

242.  Try  This  Test  on  Your  Copy. — Can  you  eliminate 
your  brand  name  from  your  copy  and  substitute  another 
brand  name  and  have  both  advertisements  true?  Can  you 
take  out  your  product  and  substitute  another  and  find  the 
words  will  still  remain  proper?  Read  this  as  an  outstand- 
ing examplg  of  "trite"  copy: 

The  Blank  combine^  artistic  design,  sound  con- 
struction, and  moderate  price.  It  makes  its  appeal  to  those 
who  appreciate  utility  when  expressed  in  terms  of  beauty. 

The  Blank here  illustrated  has  a  purity  of  line  and 

a  refinement  of  detail  which  make  it  suitable  for  any  living 
room  which  is  furnished  in  good  taste. 

The  price  is  very  moderate,  which  is  made  possible  by  the 
cooperative  buying  of  the  companies  listed.  They  will  be 
glad  to  show  you  this  or  to  answer  inquiries  by  mail. 


WRITING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  285 

What  is  it  advertising?  What  is  it  trying  to  sell?  Aside 
from  the  reference  to  ''living  room"  in  the  second  para- 
graph I  thought  it  vsras  an  automobile.  This  copy  actually 
meant  to  sell  an  electric  table  lamp.  But  read  it  over  again 
and  substitute  the  word  "phonograph."  Note  how  every 
word  fits.  Read  it  again  with  davenport,  morris  chair, 
bookcase  and  see  how  it  is  still  good  copy — to  read. 

It  is  a  fine  example  of  how  not  to  write  copy. 

A  study  of  the  product ;  its  raw  materials ;  its  use ;  the 
competing  products ;  their  advertising ;  what  the  sales  force 
has  discovered,  and  what  the  trade  journals  in  the  field 
say,  would  offer  a  bed-rock  basis  for  making  that  table-lamp 
advertisement  advertise  table  lamps  and  not  everything  in 
a  living  room. 

243.  Brevity  in  Copy. — Time  and  again  you  will  hear  of 
attacks  on  advertising  copy  because  it  is  too  long.  Yet 
frequently  brief  copy  is  like  the  familiar  story  of  the  sec- 
tion superintendent  who  was  continually  called  down  by 
his  superiors  for  writing  long-winded  reports.  Finally  one 
day  he  found  the  river  had  swept  away  the  roadbed,  and 
he  sent  this  report  to  his  superior : 

"Sir — Where  the  railroad  was,  the  river  is." 

"How  long  should  a  letter  be  in  order  to  be  effective?" 
for  example,  was  one  of  the  questions  asked  at  the  1920  De- 
troit convention  and  it  is  a  perennial  query.  The  partic- 
ular speaker  at  whom  this  was  fired  was  the  advertising 
manager  of  Big  Ben  clocks  and  his  reply  is  classic:  "One 
of  the  most  effective  letters  we  ever  sent  out  had  about 
fifteen  words;  another  equally  as  effective  covered  four 
pages.  I  think  a  letter  should  be  long  enough  to  say  what 
it  has  to  say,  to  tell  its  story,  and  as  long  as  you  can  pre- 
serve that  human  interest  which  is  created  when  the  letter 
comes  in,  you  are  all  right — keep  going,"  Every  writer  of 
direct-advertising  copy  would  do  well  to  memorize  this  pas- 
sage. 

Go  back  to  Section  239,  send  for  mail-order  literature  and 
note  how  those  users  of  direct  advertising  who  know 
whether  or  not  a  piece  pays  in  dollars  and  cents  use  suf- 


286         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

ficient  copy  to  tell  the  story,  regardless  how  long  or  how 
short  it  is.  Reread  the  quotation  at  the  head  of  this  chap- 
ter. Give  your  reader  the  greatest  amount  of  information 
in  the  least  time.  This  briefly  sums  up  the  significance 
of  brevity  in  direct-advertising  copy. 

,  244.  Copy  for  All  Physical  Forms  of  Direct  Advertis- 
ing Practically  the  Same. — Whether  it  is  to  be  a  letter  or 
a  booklet,  a  sales  portfolio,  or  a  folder,  there  is  little  differ- 
ence in  the  preparation  of  the  copy.  You  have  an  idea  that 
you  want  to  implant  in  the  mind  of  another,  or  you  should 
not  write  the  piece,  regardless  of  its  physical  form ;  and 
in  writing  it,  all  you  have  to  bear  in  mind  is  that  in  some 
forms  (booklets,  for  example)  you  have  the  possibility  of 
using  illustrations  to  help  in  telling  your  story.  What 
has  been  said  so  far  in  this  chapter  applies  equally  well  to 
all  forms.  Section  246  of  course  only  applies  to  the  forms 
that  have  titles. 

245.  Making  a  Good  Writer  of  Copy. — "The  writer 
must  be  intensively  enriclied  himself  before  he  can  enrich 
the  mind  of  his  prospect,"  thus  Elmer  H.  Smith,  of  Henry 
Disston  &  Sons,  Philadelphia,  epitomized  an  answer  to  the 
query,  "Who  makes  a  good  writer  of  copy?"  in  Printers' 
Ink,  July  10,  1919. 

Would  you  know  how  to  write  direct-advertising  copy? 
"Develop  the  mind,"  replies  Mr.  Smith,  in  an  authoritative 
article.  "How  shall  I  develop  my  mind?"  you  ask.  "Ob- 
serve with  your  entire  complement  of  senses.  Turn  the 
entire  photographic  machinery  of  your  mind  on  the  world 
about  you.  Use  your  seven  senses  to  capacity  (seeing,  hear- 
ing, smelling,  tasting,  touching,  and  the  muscular  sense  and 
that  of  temperature).  IMake  your  knowledge,  your  mental 
conception  of  things,  just  as  vivid  and  tangible  as  the  things 
themselves.  Good  advertisement  writing  is  the  natural  re- 
sult of  a  mental  development  hy  which  a  man  comes  into 
possession  of  and  makes  use  of  all  the  powers  of  his  mind. 
Harry  Collins  Spillman,  educational  director.  Reming- 
ton Typewriter  Company,  and  author  of  the  book  called 
"Personality,"  in  speaking  before  the  Detroit  Direct  Ad- 


WRITING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  287 

vertising  Convention  (October,  1920)  gave  precious  advice 
to  the  writer  of  direct-advertising  copy:  "You  should 
'see  by  the  newspaper'  for  news;  by  Macaulay  for  clear- 
ness; by  Scott  for  action;  by  Bacon  for  conciseness;  by 
Franklin  for  common  sense ;  by  Emerson  for  wisdom ;  and 
for  all  of  these  in  one  you  should  'see  a  great  deal'  by  the 
large  book  on  the  center  table  that's  seldom  dusted  or  read 
except  by  our  mothers.  The  Old  Testament  in  particular  is 
a  prolific  source  of  dynamic  language." 

Martin  L.  Pierce,  addressing  the  same  convention,  made 
an  excellent  point  which  should  be  borne  in  mind  by  all 
writers  of  direct  advertising  when  he  closed  his  talk  with: 
"Finally,  the  effectiveness  of  Hoover  direct  advertising  is 
attained  because  whether  the  piece  be  of  one  page  or  several 
pages,  the  message  is  always  the  same.  The  reader  is  made 
to  understand  that  the  Hoover  beats  as  it  sweeps  as  it 
cleans."     See  also  Section  172. 

246.  Titles,  Headlines,  and  First  Paragraphs. — The 
titles  to  your  physical  forms  with  covers,  such  as  booklets, 
inclosures,  and  the  like,  the  headlines  both  "outside"  and 
inside  of  your  folders,  mailing  cards,  circulars,  etc.,  and 
the  first  paragraphs  of  your  form  letters  are  the  "sales- 
men" of  attention,  oftentimes  of  interest  in  your  piece. 

They  are  of  supreme  importance. 

Greater  care  should  be  taken  to  get  just  the  right  title, 
headline,  and  first  paragraph  than  any  other  part  of  the 
copy,  unless  it  be  the  final  paragraph  of  letters. 

You  can  test  this  for  yourself.  Pick  up  any  magazine, 
note  how  you  glance  through  it  and  how  the  headline  (title) 
of  the  article  "sells"  the  article  to  you;  that  is,  gets  you 
to  stop  and  look  further.  If  the  first  paragraph  holds  in- 
terest you  probably  read  on. 

Bear  this  truism  ever  in  mind  in  writing  direct-advertis- 
ing copy.  Not  that  you  can  afford  to  slight  all  the  other 
parts,  but  put  extra  thought  and  care  on  titles,  headlines, 
and  first  paragraphs. 

Title  or  headline,  in  my  opinion  and  that  of  others  who 
have  studied  it  considerably,  should  relevantly  epitomize 


288         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

the  big  idea  iehind  the  piece  or  advertisement,  without  giv- 
ing the  reader  more  than  enough  of  the  story  to  whet  his 
appetite. 

And  if  your  booklet  is  to  be  used  in  direct  advertising  or 
otherwise,  an  alluring  title  is  a  powerful  asset. 

The  following  titles  are  excellent  examples: 

Thirty  Feet  op  Danger — a  Nujol  booklet. 

The  House  that  Jack  Fixed. 

Sparks  from  Flint — for  a  Flint,  Michigan,  automobile. 

How  to  Pack  It — for  a  corrugated  box-board  company. 

The  Blazed  Trail  op  Evidence — for  a  testimonial  booklet 

where  records  were  saved  from  fires. 
The  Sport  Alluring — for  a  trapsbooting  book. 

See  also  Section  225. 

Titles  may  be  divided  into  four  classes:  (1)  Curious, 
(2)  Interrogatory,  (3)  Declarative,  (4)  Pictorial.  The 
fourth  class  we  will  consider  later.  "What  is  Milk?"  il- 
lustrates class  two;  and  almost  any  ordinary  title  will 
represent  class  three:  ''The  Hard  Wood  Catalogue,"  for  ' 
example,  which  is  merely  a  paraphrase  of  one  actually  in 
use. 

247.  Headlines  and  Titles  Are  Valuable. — There  is  on 
record  a  case  of  one  manufacturer  running  six  pieces  of 
copy  in  different  pages  of  the  same  publication,  the  only 
change  being  in  the  headline.  He  secured  inquiries  at  a 
cost  varying  from  8  cents  to  $1.54  each.  This  illustrates 
the  value  of  headlines.  Lister  R.  Alwood  in  Mailhag 
(September,  1917)  stated  that  he  had  observed  increases  of 
25  per  cent  in  volume  of  inquiries  by  using  the  right  title 
for  a  book. 

Good  titles  are  usually  comparatively  short,  say  not  over 
six  words ;  seldom  are  the  words  long. 

Starch  in  his  book,  "Advertising,"  lays  down  the  rule, 
from  an  examination  of  advertisements  that  produce,  that 
they  be  between  one-tenth  and  one-twentieth  of  the  height 
.of  the  advertisement.  This  is  primarily  a  mechanical  fac- 
tor, to  be  sure,  but  interesting  in  connection  with  titles. 
Test   your  headline   from   a   copy   standpoint   with  these 


WRITING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  289 

queries:  Has  it  a  definite,  specific  idea?  Will  the  reader 
get  it  easily?  Does  it  stress  the  central  theme  of  your 
piece?     Or  is  it  general? 

The  question  is  a  good  form  of  headline  inasmuch  as  it 
causes  your  reader  to  try  mentally  to  answer  it  if  pertinent. 

248.  First  Paragraphs  Are  the  Headlines  of  Letters. — 
Some  authorities  claim  that  the  first  paragraph  of  the  form 
letter  is  the  letter,  which  emphasizes  its  importance.  As 
set  forth  in  Section  27,  the  thing  to  do  is  to  get  in  step 
with  your  reader  and  having  taken  step  one  of  Fig.  61 
proceed  to  take  the  rest  of  the  steps. 

Space  forbids  our  quoting  a  large  number  of  opening 
paragraphs.  However,  for  those  wishing  additional  refer- 
ences see  Postage,  May,  1916,  page  36. 

Good,  strong,  solid,  honest  leather — 
That's  the  beginning  of  every  Blank  Shoe. 
(Used  by  a  shoe-manufacturer.) 

A  miner  in  the  Homestake  Mine  in  South  Dakota — 

The  Emperor  of  Russia  in  his  palace — 

A  newsboy  in  Toronto — 

The  head  of  the  U.  S.  Steel  Corporation — 

These  and  50,000  other  men  and  women  all  over  the  world 
and  in  every  walk  of  life,  rich  and  poor,  have  bought  the  new 
Encyclopaedia  Britannica, 
(Used  in  the  successful  Britannica  campaign.) 

Soon  be  time  to  go  fishing! 
And — you'll  want  plenty  of  good  pipe  bait! 
(By  a  mail-order  tobacco  company.) 

This  is  real  money !     Feel  it,  smell  it,  test  it  any  way  you 

like, — then  read  the  rest  of  the  letter! 
(By  a  metallic  packing  company  which  had  enclosed  a  crisp 
new  dollar  bill  with  its  letter.) 

See  also  Section  286. 

249.  Copy  to  Answer  Inquiries  or  to  Follow,  Other 
Copy  Must  "Follow  Through." — Advertising  &  Selling 
some  years  ago  made  an  elaborate  test  of  methods  of  turn- 
ing inquiries  into  orders  and  found  that  there  were  only  3 
per  cent  of  the  advertisers  who  continued  the  appeal  of 


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290 


Fig.  64. — Return  cards  must  be  planned  to  insure  their  "come- 
back." They  should  be  in  keeping  with  the  rest  of  the  piece.  These 
specimens,  it  will  be  understood,  are  all  separate  from  the  direct 
advertising  which  thev  accompany. 

291 


292         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

their  original  advertisement  in  copy  sent  in  response  to 
inquiries  or  in  following  up  other  matter^  A  salesman  who 
came  in  talking  about  palm-leaf  fans  and  then  proceeded  to 
try  to  sell  fur  coats  would  be  considered  crazy,  but  follow- 
ups  and  other  copy  sent  out  to  inquirers  often  do  what  is 
tantamount  to  this. 

250.  Writing  Copy  for  Return  Cards,  Order  Blanks, 
and  Other  "Come-backs." — The  best  "come-backs"  are  so 
prepared  that  they  are  practically  self-contained ;  i.e.,  have 
all  of  the  necessary  facts  there  for  the  prospect  to  act  upon 
vithout  hunting  up  the  circular  which  accompanied  the 
jome-back. 

In  the  main  there  are  two  forms  of  come-backs,  (a) 
postal  cards,  and  (b)  order  blanks.  By  far  the  large  ma- 
jority are  return  cards. 

The  rules  for  writing  the  copy  are  few  and  simple,  yet 
the  failure  of  many  come-backs  to  come  back  is  due  to  dis- 
regarding these  fundamentals: 

Resell  your  proposition  upon  the  come-back. 

Unless  you  are  trying  for  a  direct  order  (as  in  the  mail- 
order business)  be  very  careful  that  your  copy  explicitly 
states  that  sending  back  the  card  or  other  piece  places  the 
sender  under  no  obligation. 

Use  pictures,  borders,  and  similar  mechanical  devices  to 
make  the  return  card  attractive,  as  set  forth  in  Section  269. 

If  your  copy  offers  a  free  booklet  or  to  send  something 
on  approval  describe  what  is  offered  in  tempting  words 
which  will  create  desire  and  incite  action.  Then  show  a 
picture  of  the  booklet,  if  possible.  Use  colors  to  "dress 
up"  the  return  cards  and  order  blanks. 

Figs.  63  and  64  illustrate  several  return  cards  and 
other  come-backs. 

See  also  upper  part  of  Fig.  10. 

As  an  example  of  judicious  copy  read  this  on  a  return 
card  sent  out  with  a  letter  trying  to  get  approval  orders 
for  a  set  of  type  charts : 


WRITING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  293 

APPROVAL  REQUEST  FOR  SHERBOW'S  TYPE  CHARTS 

Dear  Mr.  Sherbow: 

Please  send  us  a  set  of  Sherbow's  Type  Charts  on  free  trial. 
We  are  to  have  the  privilege  of  using  them  seven  full  work- 
ing days  and  will  give  them  a  thorough  test.  If  we  are  sat- 
isfied to  keep  them,  we  may  pay  for  them  either  at  the  cash 
price  of  ninety-six  dollars  (terms  thirty  days  net)  or  in  five 
monthly  installments  of  twenty  dollars  each,  or  in  ten 
monthly  installments  of  ten  dollars  each. 

Otherwise  we  will  return  the  Charts  at  your  expense  and 
we  will  owe  you  nothing. 

We  shall  not  be  held  responsible  automatically  for  the  pur- 
chase of  the  Charts  if  by  reason  of  neglect  we  fail  to  return 
them  within  the  stated  approval  period. 

A  careful  analysis  of  this  copy  shows  that  it  is  nearly 
perfect.  It  plays  up  the  approval  idea;  disarms  suspicion 
that  the  scheme  is  to  get  the  charts  out  on  approval  and 
then  if  you  hold  them  a  second  over  seven  days  charge  you 
for  them  (a  plan  worked  by  short-sighted  mail-order 
houses  upon  occasion)  ;  it  tells  the  story  of  the  price  and 
makes  everything  explicit.  Without  more  information  you 
can  fill  in  the  card. 

One  method  of  getting  back  return  cards  is  to  have  them 
all  signed  and  ready  to  be  sent  back,  sometimes  without 
even  the  necessity  of  an  O.K.,  at  other  times— for  legal 

reasons — the  words  *'0.K. "  folowed  by  a  space  for  the 

initials  are  provided  in  the  copy.  See  top  card  on  Fig.  64 ; 
the  f-ront  is  ' '  personalized ' '  as  well  as  the  back. 

Some  firms  get  an  additional  return  on  their  return 
cards  by  asking  for  names  of  other  prospects:  The  Alad- 
din Company,  for  example,  on  their  return  card  add  this 
copy: 

Please  send  a  copy  of  the  "Aladdin  Homes"  Book  to  my 
friend  whose  address  is: 

Friend's  Name , 

Address , 

If  your  card  is  to  get  inquiries  for  a  booklet  center  all 


294         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

efforts  on  doing  that.  If  it  is  to  pave  the  way — after  its 
receipt — for  the  call  of  a  salesman,  it  is  sometimes  advisable 
to  make  the  copy  have  the  prospect  ask  for  "further  in- 
formation." Now  and  then  it  is  better  to  come  right  out 
and  get  the  prospect  to  send  for  the  salesman.  One  card, 
after  carefully  explaining  that  signing  and  returning  the 
card  entailed  no  obligation,  adds  this  line:  "Read  this 
before  signing  and  there  will  be  no  repining."  Personally 
we  think  this  went  a  step  too  far. 

If  you  are  seeking  confidential  information,  such  as  age 
for  insurance  policies,  it  is  possible  to  make  it  unnecessary 
for  the  prospect  to  sign  the  card  at  all,  or  to  have  his  name 
appear  thereon,  by  simply  numbering  the  cards  which  go 
out  and  keeping  a  record  of  the  numbers. 

Maxwell  Droke  made  a  good  point  when  he  constructively 
criticized  in  a  recent  issue  of  Mailhag  the  return  card  of  an 
architectural  magazine  with  a  general  appeal.  The  card 
read: 

Dear  Sirs: 

Enter  my  subscription  to  Blank  Magazine  for  one  year. 
Upon  receipt  of  your  bill  I  will  remit  $3.00  or  within  ten  days 
authorize  you  to  cancel  the  subscription. 

This  copy  could  have  read  thus : 

Certainly,  Sirs: 

I  am  interested  in  a  home  that  is  more  than  house.  You 
say  the  Blank  Magazine  is  a  publication  devoted  to  distinc- 
tively different  dwellings.  If  that's  true  I  expect  to  find  it 
interesting;  So  you  may  enter  my  subscription  for  one  year. 
Upon  receipt  of  your  bill  I  will  remit  $3.00  or,  within  ten 
days,  authorize  you  to  cancel  the  subscription. 

It  requires  no  vivid  imagination  to  see  which  copy  would 
more  likely  bring  the  come-back  back ! 

Where  order  blanks  are  used  they  should  be  made  almost 
human.  It  must  do  all  that  the  good  return  card  does 
and  in  addition  make  the  process  of  ordering  as  easy  as 
possible  for  the  prospect. 


WRITING  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  295 

251.  Testing  and  Checking  Up. — While  as  a  rule  it  is 
only  the  mail-order  concerns  which  test  their  copy,  yet  as 
suggested  in  Section  201  tests  can  be  made  and  should  be 
made  wherever  possible.  V.  E.  Pratt,  formerly  with  Sears 
Roebuck  &  Company,  in  the  issue  of  Mailhag  for  June, 
1919,  gave  the  story  of  the  very  thorough  tests  that  Sears 
Roebuck  and  others  make  of  their  copy.  I  have  on  file  a 
letter  from  a  house  selling  exclusively  by  mail  which  has 
enough  tests  on  record  now  to  enable  the  owner  of  the  busi- 
ness accurately  to  forecast  the  returns  from  any  mailing 
before  it  goes  out ;  that  is,  any  mailing  using  familiar  copy 
and  appeal.  These  tests  are  simply  small  mailings  with  a 
careful  keying  of  returns.  Opinions  are  not  valid  in  the 
great  mail-order  houses;  they  test  and  know. 

Montgomery  Ward  &  Company,  mail-order  house,  have  an 
elaborate  plan  of  censorship  over  their  catalogue  copy  before 
it  is  allowed  to  go  to  press.  It  is  usual  in  the  trade,  for 
example,  to  refer  to  a  bronze  finish  door  knob  as  "bronze." 
Yet  Montgomery  Ward  &  Company  refuse  to  hide  behind 
trade  customs;  they  insist  that  the  copy-writer  call  such 
knob  a  bronze  finish  knob. 

For  a  check-up  of  your  copy  see  Appendix  E. 

If  copy  is  to  be  used  over  a  retailer  or  other  distributor's 
signature  see  rule  in  Section  422. 

252.  A  Few  Common  Grammatical  Errors. — Space 
precludes  our  going  into  detailed  rules  of  grammar  or  stud- 
ies in  rhetoric.  S.  E.  Kiser,  in  Printers'  Ink  (February 
22,  1917),  following  a  study  of  a  large  volume  of  advertis- 
ing compiled  the  following  set  of  "Don'ts"  which  will  be 
helpful  to  all  direct-advertising  copy-writers : 

Don't  write:  "Our  volume  of  business  is  greater  than 
any  coffee  house  in  the  country"  when  you  mean  "greater  than 
that  of  any  other  coffee  house  in  the  country." 

Don't  write:  "The  three  last"  when  you  mean  "the  last 
three." 

Don't  write:  "each  other"  when  you  are  referring  to  more 
than  two  persons  or  objects.  Example:  "The  eight  cylin- 
ders cooperate  with   each   other  exactly."     Eight   cylinders 


296         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

may  cooperate  with  one  another;  two  cylinders  may  cooper- 
ate with  each  other. 

Don't  write:  "Badly  needed."  Nothing  is  badly  needed. 
Many  things  are  much  needed. 

Don't  write :  "We  have  agents  in  every  city  and  town  who 
will  supply  you  with  necessary  parts."  This  is  a  better 
form:  "We  have  in  every  city  and  town  agents  who  will," 
etc. 

Don't  write:  "You  will  like  it  better,  because  it  is  differ- 
ent."    Better  than  what  and  different  from  what? 

Don't  write:  "Every  one  may  see  for  themselves."  "Ev- 
ery one  may  see  for  himself,"  is  correct. 

Don't  write:  "There  is  no  one  but  what  will  agree  that," 
etc.     Say :     "There  is  no  one  who  will  not  agree." 

Questions  for  Class  Work  or  Review  Purposes 

1.  What  is  the  relative  importance  of  copy  as  you  understand 
it?     Define  "copy." 

2.  Give  the  four  dimensions  of  copy  and  clip  examples  illus- 
trating each  dimension. 

3.  Name  the  five  steps  in  a  sale.     How  many  are  taken  in  the 
ordinary  piece  of  direct  advertising? 

4.  Write  a  piece  of  copy  which  will  carry  out  the  five  steps  of  a 
sale. 

5.  Name  the  five  classifications  of  copy  and  clip  an  example  of 
each. 

6.  What  is  a  good  "title"  for  a  booklet  ?    Write  several  titles. 


PART  FOUR 

THE  MECHANICAL  FACTORS  IN 
DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

In  which  we  take  up  briefly  the  necessary  mechanical 
parts  of  planning  and  producing  a  piece  or  a  campaign. 
This  section  includes  folding,  die-cutting,  typography,  art 
work,  color,  engravings,  electrotypes,  paper,  and  the  many 
forms  of  reproduction.  Then  we  discuss  the  handling  of 
the  reproduction,  addressing,  distributing,  as  well  as  the 
records  which  may  be  kept,  showing  forms  for  the  purpose. 
Finally,  in  abridged  form,  we  emphasize  certain  postal 
rules  and  regulations  affecting  direct  advertising. 


SPECIAL  FOREWORD  TO  PART  FOUR 

Entire  volumes,  in  fact  several  of  them,  have  been 
written  on  the  various  subjects  treated  here  in  but  a  single 
chapter. 

It  is  necessary,  in  order  to  reduce  the  volume  to  a  min- 
imum, to  sketch  in  but  few  words  the  mechanical  factors. 
Readers  are  referred  to  separate  works  on  Typography,  En- 
graving, Printing,  Mailing  and  Distribution.  Moreover, 
by  means  of  a  short  visit  to  a  printing  establishment,  an 
engraving  shop,  and  the  mailing  and  distribution  section  of 
any  local  firm  they  can  get  a  working  knowledge  of  these 
mechanical  factors  that  will  be  invaluable. 

The  Author 


CHAPTER  XI 

PLANNING  THE  PHYSICAL  FORMS  FROM  A  MECHANICAL 
STANDPOINT 

There  are  wasters,  there  are  misers,  there  are  men  who  "know  it 

all"— 
Or  they  think  they  do — but  they  are  full  of  ignorance  and  gall. 
But  the  worst  of  all  offenders,  and  the  ''chestnut"  of  the  town, 
Is  the  mar.  who  wants  his  advertising  printed  upside  down! 

— Fame. 

253.  Interrelation  of  Mechanical  with  Physical  and 
Mental  Factors. — From  the  outset  we  have  endeavored  to 
emphasize  the  interdependence  of  direct  advertising  with 
practically  all  the  other  forms  of  media,  depending,  of 
course,  upon  the  circumstances  surrounding  each  indi- 
vidual case.  Now  we  want  to  emphasize  the  interdepen- 
dence of  the  mechanical  (see  Fig.  65)  with  the  mental  fac- 
tors in  their  bearing  upon  the  various  physical  forms  of 
direct  advertising.  Fig.  66,  reproduced  here  through  the 
courtesy  of  Printers'  Ink  Monthly  and  Furst  Brothers  & 
Company,  Baltimore,  graphically  portrays  the  application 
of  Fig.  65  to  just  one  single  problem — the  getting  out  of 
a  catalogue.  We  shall  consider  only  the  pl.\nning  of  the 
mechanical  factors  in  this  chapter,  but  the  rest  of  them 
will  be  covered  in  succeeding  chapters  of  this  part  of  the 
book. 

Another  example  of  the  interrelation  of  the  mechanical, 
physical,  and  mental  factors  is  in  the  producing  of 
the  index  page  or  pages  for  books,  catalogues,  etc.  Page 
629  of  this  book  represents  a  typical  index  page.     Any 

299 


M 

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Fig.  G5. — In  order  that  you  may  give  attention  to  the  principal 
mechanical  factors  when  planning  each  individual  piece  of  campaign, 
cheek  it  up  with  this  chart.     Copyrighted. 

300 


PLANNING  PHYSICAL  FORMS 


301 


lANNOUNCEMENTl 


puRST  Brothers  Sc^Qixalog  Chart 

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ENVELOPE   I 
DUMMY      [ 


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Fig.   66. — How   one  concern   not   only   plans   the 
writing,  but  also  the  production   of  its  catalogue. 

booklet,  catalogue,  house  organ,  or  portfolio  which  is  to  be 
used  as  a  work  of  reference  should  be  thoroughly  indexed. 
Some  weeks  ago  the  author  received  a  mammoth  book  which 
was  not  indexed  at  all.  As  a  consequence  the  book  has 
never  been  perused  beyond  the  first  few  pages.  Had 
the  index  shown  other  manufacturers  in  the  line  of 
business  in  which  the  author  is  interested  he  would  have 
looked  them  up.  Or  he  might  have  looked  up  to  see  the 
recommendations  of  friends.     A  table  of  contents  is  also 


302         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

desirable  in  books  with  any  great  number  of  chapters. 
See  page  xi  in  the  front  matter  of  this  book  for  an  example 
of  a  table  of  contents. 

It  is  a  safe  rule  to  use  an  index,  or  a  table  of  contents, 
in  any  booklet  of  over  16  pages. 

254.  Even  a  Mental  Appeal  May  Require  Mechanical 
Planning. — Perhaps  the  best  illustration  of  the  fact  that 
even  a  mental  appeal  may  require  mechanical  planning  is 
the  growing  use  of  "buying  attention"  by  means  of  stamps, 
coins,  and  money.  In  Section  390  we  refer  to  the  use 
of  a  dollar  bill  as  an  attention-getter,  in  connection  with  a 
letter.  A  Chattanooga  concern  used  the  same  appeal  by 
inclosing  a  dollar  bill  inside  of  a  folder.  The  outside  of 
the  folder  bore  this  message:  "There  is  Some  Real  Money 
Inside  this  Circular  for  You."  Tearing  the  seals  you 
found  the  currency  and  this  headline:  "We  Wish  to  Buy 
Ten  Minutes  of  Your  Time.  If  the  Attached  Currency 
Will  Pay  for  It  Consider  Yourself  Engaged."  Another 
method  of  supplementary  mental  with  a  mechanical  appeal 
will  be  found  referred  to  in  Section  261. 

255.  Evidence  of  Value  of  Mechanical  Factors. — Simply 
by  running  the  return  cards  through  the  addressing  ma- 
chine and  signing  them  for  the  prospect  before  they  were 
mailed  out — purely  mechanical — (see  Fig.  64)  in  the  case 
of  an  Ohio  manufacturer  with  a  sales-book  brought  back 
80  per  cent  more  inquiries  than  the  same  appeal  and 
same  return  card  without  this  "stunt"  which  saved  the 
prospects'  time. 

A  Buffalo  mail-order  house  has  found  that  if,  instead  of 
slipping  inclosures  into  the  envelope  loose  with  circular 
letters,  the  inclosure  is  clipped  to  the  letter,  it  increases 
returns  materially;  in  one  test  as  high  as  20  per  cent,  in 
fact. 

256.  Planning  the  Physical  Forms. — The  following 
table  will  show  the  various  mechanical  factors  most  fre- 
quently met  with  and  how  they  affect  the  ordinary  physical 
forms  as  listed  in  Chapter  III . 


PLANNING  PHYSICAL  FORMS 

Mechanical  Factors: 

Mechanical  Factors 


303 


Kind  of 

Number   of 

Size  of 

' 

Out- 

Die- 

side 

Cover 

Pages      Folds 

Pages 

Folds 

Bind- 

cut- 

Fold 

ing 

ting 

Letters    

* 

* 

* 

* 

* 

Hooklets    

* 

* 

* 

* 

* 

House      organs 

* 

* 

* 

* 

* 

Catalogues    .  . . 

* 

* 

* 

* 

* 

Bulletins    .... 

* 

* 

* 

Almanacs    .... 

* 

* 

* 

* 

* 

Folders    

* 

* 

* 

* 

Inrlosures   .... 

* 

* 

* 

* 

* 

Package  Inserts 

* 

* 

* 

* 

Broad.sides    .  .  . 

* 

* 

* 

Blotters  1    

* 

Poster  stamps  i 

* 

1  Blotters  and  stamps  have  only  Size  as  chief  mechanical  factor,  though 
blotters  may  be  coated  on  one  side  or  may  consist  of  blotting-paper  on  both 
sides. 

The  preceding  table  is  valuable  only  as  a  check-up  to  see 
whether  you  have  considered  the  ''outside"  fold,  or  cover; 
the  number  of  pages,  or  folds;  size  of  pages,  or  folds; 
method  of  binding,  where  there  is  to  be  a  binding,  and 
where  die-cutting  may  be  a  possibility  from  the  mechanical 
tandpoint. 

In  bach  and  every  instance  the  other  factors  SUCH 
AS  ILLUSTRATIONS,  TYPOGRAPHY,  KIND  OF  PAPER,  COLOR, 
METHOD  OF  REPRODUCTION — ALL  MUST  BE  CONSIDERED  AFTER 
THIS    CHECK-UP    HAS    BEEN    MADE. 

Fig.  67  illustrates  what  is  known  as  a  "stepped"  book- 
let. The  pages  are  arranged  so  that  they  are  stepped,  per- 
mitting the  display  of  several  items  in  a  line. 

257.  Planning  Mechanically  the  Outside  or  Cover. — 
Chapter  VI  discussed  in  detail  the  outside  of  envelopes  and 
auto-contained  pieces.  When  a  booklet,  house  organ,  or 
other  piece  of  direct  advertising  has  no  separate  cover;  that 
is,  the  piece  folds  up  and  first  fold  is  used  as  a  cover,  it  is 
termed  self-contained,  or  self-inclosing.  A  sheet  of  25  x  38, 
folded  up  to  a  sixteen-page  form,  makes  a  6  x  9  self-inclos- 
ing booklet,  for  example.     Covers  may  be  divided  into  type 


304 


EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


covers,  drawn  covers,  and  photographic  covers.  "The 
Digest  and  the  Dealer"  on  Fig.  12  is  an  example  of 
a  type  cover.  ''Humanizing  a  Great  Industry"  on  the 
same  plate  is  a  drawn  cover.  The  illustration  part  of 
The  Kodak  Magazine  on  Fig.  19  is  an  example  of  a 
photographic  cover.  All  these  classes  of  covers  may 
either  be:  (1)  Trimmed  flush — that  is,  the  inside  pages 
and  the  cover  pages  all  cut  to  the  same  size — as  in  the 
case  of  most  small  paper-bound  booklets,  such  as  "Hu- 
manizing a  Great  Industry"  previously  referred  to;  or 
(2)  Extended,  where  the  cover  extends  beyond  the  inside 
pages,  as  in  the  case  of  "The  Book  of  Better  Business" 


James  KcCreery&Co. 

ANNOUNCE 


CORSETS 


® 


WAISTS 


FRENCH  UNDERWEAR    ©f  SILK  6)  MERINO  UNDERWEAR. 


^       HOUSEHOLD   LINENS       CS    BLANKETS  ^  COMFORTABLES 


DOMESTIC    UNDERWEAR.        Cg      DOMESTIC  UNDERWEAR- 


McCREERY  SILKS 


<3 


DRESS    GOODS 


Fig.    67. — How    the    stepped    booklet    looks    as    it 
reaches  the  prospect.     It  is  a  system  of  indexing. 

(cloth  bound)  on  Fig.  16.  In  the  case  of  the  drawn  and 
photographic  covers,  the  cover  may  "bleed-off,"  which 
means  that  the  design  runs  clear  to  the  edge  of  the  cover. 
The  name  explains  the  process ;  the  cover  design  is  made 
a  bit  larger  than  desired  at  the  finish,  and  then  the  book  is 
cut  down  by  the  paper  trimmer  to  proper  size,  the  design 
being  cut  until  it  "bleeds."  Effective  single-cover  covers, 
especially  on  envelope  inclosures,  house  organs,  and  so  on, 
are  made  by  the  use  of  the  bleed-off  mechanical  factor. 
"How  We  Lost  That  Bet  on  the  Movies,"  ilkistrated  on 
Fig.  44  C,  is  an  example  of  a  photographic  bleed-off  cover. 
The  back  page  of  this  latter  booklet  is  the  same  as  the  front 
except  that  it  is  without  the  title. 


PLANNING  PHYSICAL  FORMS  305 

Another  method  of  securing  attention  to  a  cover  mechan- 
ically is  represented  by  *'A  Message  from  Marietta,"  and 
''The  Optimism  Book  for  Offices"  (see  Fig.  15).  In  the 
former  case  the  lettering  was  printed  on  a  paper  stock  and 
die-cut  out  to  shape,  then  pasted  on  top  of  the  cover  stock 
of  the  booklet  extending  above  the  cover  itself.  In  the  latter 
case  the  cover  was  counter-sunk  sufficiently  to  permit  the 
pasting  of  the  picture  on  a  level  with  the  rest  of  the  cover. 

Each  of  the  cases  mentioned  in  the  paragraph  immedi- 
ately preceding  is  an  instance  of  using  the  physical  "feel" 
of  the  cover,  produced  by  a  mechanical  factor,  for  a  better 
mental  impression.  "A  Message  from  Marietta"  is  bound 
in  a  heavy-weight  cardboard  and  referred  to  as  a  "board" 
cover.  The  cover  of  "The  Optimism  Book  for  Offices," 
still  heavier,  is  also  a  "board"  binding.  "DuPont 
Products,"  illustrated  on  Fig.  15,  is  an  example  of  a  book 
bound  with  a  fabrikoid  or  imitation  leather  cover,  while 
the  Tiffany  Blue  Book,  illustrated  on  Fig.  16,  is  an  ex- 
ample of  the  use  of  actual  leather  as  a  cover. 

In  all  cases  plan  and  order  the  envelope  or  other  "out- 
side" or  container  when  the  piece  is  planned. 

258.  Planning  Mechanically  the  Number  of  Pages  or 
Folds. — Speaking  strictly  from  the  mechanical  viewpoint, 
a  piece  of  direct  advertising  such  as  a  mailing  card  or  cir- 
cular, or  inclosure,  may  be  printed  easily  in  4  or  6  pages,  or 
any  other  number  of  pages  that  is  a  multiple  of  2.  When 
you  plan  a  6-,  a  10-,  or  a  12-page  piece,  care  should  be 
taken  to  adopt  a  size  of  page  which  will  cut  without  waste 
from  standard  sizes  of  papers  (see  Appendices  A  and  C). 
The  reason  for  this  is  that,  allowing  the  usual  page  dimen- 
sions and  proportions,  these  pieces  will  not  cut  out  of  the 
standard  size  of  papers  as  economically  as  the  4-,  8-,  and 
16-page  pieces. 

When  you  get  to  booklets,  catalogues,  and  house  organs, 
and  you  need  more  than  16  pages,  the  number  should  be 
24,  32,  40,  48,  56,  64,  etc.,  having  for  the  total  either  a 
multiple  of  8  or  of  16,  preferably  of  the  latter,  as  this  size 
of  form  reduces  the  cost  of  press-work. 


306         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

For  example,  a  36-page  booklet  can  be  printed,  but  the 
extra  4  pages  added  to  the  32  cost  proportionately  more 
than  the  others  because  they  make  what  the  printer  terms 
an  extra  "form." 

259.  Planning  Mechanically  the  Size  of  Pages  or  Folds. 
— The  sizes  of  folds  are  guided  by  what  is  to  be  accom- 
plished in  the  way  of  "stunt"  folds,  or  governed  by  mail- 
ing conditions,  but  in  the  main  they  follow  the  same  rules 
as  applied  to  the  size  of  pages.  Booklets,  house  organs, 
catalogues,  and  other  physical  forms  of  this  class  may  be 
made  in  practically  any  size  that  the  advertiser  desires, 
but  as  we  have  seen  in  Sections  257  and  258  it  is  well  to 
choose  a  size  that  cuts  without  waste.  Leaving  aside  for 
the  moment  the  movement  to  standardize  catalogue  page 
sizes,  there  are  two  factors  mechanically  entering  into  the 
decision  as  to  the  size  of  the  page:  (1)  Attractiveness  and 
convenience  from  the  reader's  standpoint,  and  (2)  a  size 
that  will  fit  snugly  into  a  standard  size  of  envelope  (see 
Appendix  B). 

The  adopted  standards  of  proportion  for  page  sizes  are 
that  the  length  shall  be  one  and  one-half  times  the  width. 
For  example,  a  booklet  that  is  6  inches  wide  should  be  9 
inches  long.  This  rule  is  not  followed  slavishly,  as  will  be 
observed  in  noting  the  sizes  of  the  many  pieces  illustrated 
herein.     In  this  connection  see  Section  283. 

Binding  and  die-cutting  will  be  taken  up  in  Sections  267 
and  264  respectively. 

260.  Distribution  of  the  Appeal. — As  has  previously 
been  explained,  it  may  have  been  decided  that  several  dif- 
ferent physical  forms  are  to  be  used  in  a  campaign,  or  per- 
haps two  or  more  physical  forms  in  connection  with  a  single 
mailing — letter,  inclosure,  and  return  card.  In  planning 
the  pieces  from  the  mechanical  standpoint  care  should  be 
exercised  to  distribute  the  appeal,  yet  to  make  all  of  the 
appeals  consistent.  If  the  letter  emphasizes  the  desirabil- 
ity of  sending  for  a  booklet,  the  return  card  should  do 
the  same,  under  ordinarv  conditions. 


I''ii;'.  (iS. —  'l']i(>-('  sliow  liow  tlic  incchaiiical  iiiaiiut'arl  uic  m'  a 
piece  of  direct  advortisinji  niiiy  he  iiiade  to  increase  ilie  ellective- 
ness  of  tlie  appeal. 


PLANNING  PHYSICAL  FORMS  307 

261.  Mechanical  Methods  of  Increasing  Effectiveness. 

— The  use  of  the  thumb  index  may  add  very  considerably 
to  the  effectiveness  of  the  booklet  or  catalogue  which  is  to 
be  referred  to  often.  The  indexing  referred  to  here  is  the 
system  of  indexing  by  cut-out  thumb  spaces,  or  the  like,  sim- 
ilar to  that  common  with  dictionaries. 

Printers'  Ink  Monthly  for  February,  1920,  tells  of  the 
use  of  a  wisp  of  hay  in  a  mailing  piece  used  by  a  coopera- 
tive organization  to  increase  planting  of  hay  in  Florida. 
The  piece  was  very  effective. 

Many  other  methods  of  ''sampling"  like  the  wisp  of 
hay  have  been  adopted.  A  manufacturer  of  corduroy  pants 
uses  a  sample.  The  makers  of  a  substitute  for  leather  sam- 
ple it  as  a  covering  for  suitcases  (see  Fig.  68).  Many  wall- 
board  companies  use  the  sample  idea,  yet  it  is  a  form  that 
has  not  been  '  *  worked  to  death ' '  as  yet  and  many  pieces  can 
be  improved  by  this  mechanical  means.  Fig.  68  illus- 
trates how  the  principles  of  die-cutting  and  sampling  have 
been  cleverly  combined.  The  die-cut  part  suggests  a  book, 
and  inside  there  is  an  actual  sample  of  the  book-cover  ma- 
terial. A  variation  of  this,  and  one  that  shows  what  re- 
sourcefulness will  do,  is  the  sampling  of  screen  wire  in 
two  sizes  of  mesh  by  printing  a  house  with  windows  and 
porch  die-cut  out  and  then  putting  small  pieces  of  screen 
wire  back  of  the  die-cut  spaces.     See  also  Section  191. 

Another  variation,  only  used  once  so  far  as  the  writer 
knows,  is  shown  on  Fig.  68  where  a  New  York  concern 
makes  use  of  the  "serial"  story  idea  by  publishing  its 
booklet  in  two  parts.  The  second  book  was  used  as  a  fol- 
low-up of  the  first,  a  new  physical  form. 

When  it  comes  to  form  letters  there  is  not  much  you  can 
plan  mechanically  to  improve  effectiveness.  One  simple, 
yet  effective,  form  is  the  postscript. 

262.  Folding. — With  the  exception  of  a  mailing  card 
such  as  Fig.  20  A  or  a  blotter  like  Fig.  31,  every  piece  of 
direct  advertising  must  be  folded.  In  planning  direct  ad- 
vertising try  to  arrange  it  so  that  the  piece  can  be  folded  on 
a  folding  machine.     In  this  connection  it  will  be  necessary 


Fig,  69. — You  will  find  illustrated  here  just  a  few  of  the  many 
folds  possible  in  folders,  or  folded  mailing  cards.  These  are  known 
as  auto-contained  pieces. 

308 


PLANNING  PHYSICAL  FORMS 


309 


to  work  with  your  printer,  which  is  good  advice  to  follow  in 
regard  to  all  the  mechanical  factors,  by  the  way.  The 
various  models  of  one  folding  machine  require  a  booklet 
of  16  pages  just  to  list  the  8-,  16-,  24-,  and  32-page  forms 


Fig.   70. — Eight  difTerent  methods   of   folding  the  paper   to  make 
multiple-page  letterheads.     See  text  for  details. 


310         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

which  may  be  cut  out  of  standard  size  sheets  of  paper  and 
folded  on  the  machine  of  this  manufacturer.  Application 
to  folding-machine  manufacturers  will  bring  the  data  about 
folding  operations.  Fig.  69  illustrates  just  a  few  methods 
of  folding  and  ways  of  making  direct-advertising  pieces 
inclose  themselves  through  tongues,  or  tabs.  This  illus- 
tration is  shown  by  courtesy  of  the  A.  M.  Collins  Manufac- 
turing Company,  of  Philadelphia. 

Even  a  simple  sales  letterhead  may  be  folded  in  several 
different  ways.  C.  H.  Barr,  of  the  Crocker-McElwain  Com- 
pany, in  the  issue  of  Mailhag  for  August,  1919,  shows  eight 
simple  methods  of  making  the  multi-page  sales  letterhead 
effective,  beyond  the  usual  four-page  letterhead,  as  follows : 

A.  A  variation  of  a  four-pag:e  fold,  by  adding  an  extra  fold 

to  the  right  as  well  as  a  fold  down  at  the  top  of  all  pages. 

B.  A  legal  fold,  the  hinge  (fold)  at  the  top  instead  of  the 

left  edge  as  usual  in  four-page  letterheads. 

C.  What  is  known  as  the  French  fold,  which  is  taking  a  sheet 

of  paper  17  x  22  and  folding  it  once  through  the  center 
and  then  once  more  on  the  left — combining  the  broadside 
and  letterhead  idea. 

D.  A  variation  of  the  first  by  using  only  an  extra  half-fold 

added  to  the  usual  four. 

E.  A  variation  of  the  second  but  folding  so  that  the  top 

sheet  is  much  shorter  than  the  under  one. 

F.  Slitting  the  usual  four-page  letterhead,  the  inside  fold  in 

the  lower  right-hand  corner  to  hold  the  card  or  order 
blank. 

G.  Making  a  pocket  in  the  inside  fold  to  hold  a  booklet. 

H.  A  six-page  by  adding  another  fold  to  the  right  of  the 
usual  four-page  letterhead. 

Fig.  70  illustrates  these  folds. 
262A.  Folded  Pieces  Must  Be  Sealed  or  Otherwise 
Closed. — While  the  folded  pieces  must  be  open  for  postal 
inspection,  as  set  forth  in  Section  374,  they  cannot  go 
through  the  mails  without  being  ''closed"  in  some  manner. 
Fig.  69  illustrates  how  simply  folders  may  be  made  to 
inclose  themselves.     A  good  rule  to  follow  is  to  make  the 


PLANNING  PHYSICAL  FORMS 


311 


seal,  or  other  method  of  "closing,"  inconspicuous.  Any- 
thing which  detracts  from  your  message  is  not  desirable. 
263.  The  Folding  Must  Be  Fitted  to  the  Message,  or 
Vice  Versa. — The  folding  is,  after  all,  a  purely  mechanical 
affair,  like  printing  the  piece  after  all  planning  is  over, 
but  there  is  one  principle  which  must  be  followed  in  con- 
nection with  folding  and  that  is  known  as  the  "follow- 


Atir  BUSINESS  ca 

COMMCKe/At   •    •  •  •    BLOCM 

4*0  RICKTOWN,ir«J^  o^ 


=T"  POST  CAE©" 


.Attf  BUSINESS   CO, 
Commercial  Block 
Rlchtown, 


ANV  ausiNiH  cow 
IUCKTOWN,U«A. 

PUa««  Hav»y«ui>««lMnun 
/Z\        NoobligaOon.ofcourw. 


is  eoxmsft 


B 


Good^ 

iSaxKtSKt 

Iwt- 

Fig.  71. — These  drawings  illustrate  how  the  fold  must  be  made  to 
follow  the  message  or  the  message  to  follow  the  fold.  See  text  for 
details. 

through"  principle.  By  follow-through  is  meant  either  fit- 
ting the  message  to  the  fold,  or  the  fold  to  the  message — 
not  leaving  awkward  "cold"  white  spaces,  or  asking  the 


312         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

reader  to  turn  the  piece  upside  down  and  about  like  a 
picture-puzzle,  to  follow  the  copy,  or  pictures. 

Fig.  71  (courtesy  of  the  Zellerbach  Paper  Company) 
illustrates   in   simple  style   the   follow-through   principle. 

(A)  represents  the  inside,  or  story  side,  of  the  folder. 

(B)  is  the  appearance  of  the  outside  when  laid  out  flat. 
In  the  illustration  this  is  shown  in  reading  position,  but  in 
printing  or  laying  out  a  dummy  (see  Section  341)  it  would 
be  necessary  to  place  this  side  the  other  way  on  the  reverse 
side  of  (A), 

(C)  shows  the  folder  ready  for  mailing.  If  a  pre- 
canceled  stamp  is  used  over  the  edge  as  indica.ted,  it  acts 
as  a  seal,  and  a  seal  would  be  preferable  to  the  clip  shown 
on  the  left  edge. 

No  good  salesman  would  come  into  your  office  and  put  an 
order  blank,  or  return  card,  under  your  nose  before  he  in- 
troduced himself,  yet  by  failure  to  watch  the  follow-through 
principle  direct  advertising  pieces  do  this  every  day.  Or 
they  attempt  to  incite  action  (from  the  standpoint  of 
the  fold)  when  they  should  be  at  that  moment,  consid- 
ered from  the  viewpoint  of  the  reader,  trying  to  arouse 
interest. 

In  the  piece  illustrated  in  Fig.  71,  note  that  the  mailing 
address  for  the  piece  is  also  the  signature  to  the  return  card 
— a  double  purpose  being  served  by  one  addressing.  (In 
this  figure  the  addressing  is  done  by  handwriting,  it  will 
be  noted.) 

It  should  be  stated  here  that  this  piece  actually  produced 
better  than  23  per  cent  inquiries,  and  of  these  inquiries 
70  per  cent  were  sold  when  the  salesman  called.  The  piece 
advertised  tires,  a  highly  competitive  article. 

Alan  C.  Reiley,  advertising  manager  of  the  Remington 
Typewriter  Company,  commenting  on  this  principle,  said : 
''We  lay  special  stress  on  this  point  because  far  too  many 
pieces  in  the  mail  to-day  have  no  logical  follow-through." 

Good  copy  or  displaj^  may  offset  the  lack  of  follow- 
through,  but  each  is  more  effective  with  it. 

Fig.  72  illustrates  what  may  be  done  in  the  way  of 


See  Filing  Sysfeiii 
inside — 


Th^  ^  Y  attti  f     \tt4ifiulrU  tnd,  \ 


w         "t'r,^-."'"" 


Fi<^.  72. — H(  re  is  an  excellent  example  of  a  relevant  use  of  clev- 
erness in  preparing-  direct  advertising.  This  booklet  with  its  die- 
cut  pages  grapliically  demonstrates  the  advertiser's  system  of 
tiling.  The  Tijijjcr  illustration  shows  the  outside  of  the  piece 
which  is  die-cut.  It  is  a  perfect  presentation  of  a  tiling  cabinet 
with  drawer  partly  open. 


FifT  73. — Direct  advertising^  wliicli  is  to  go  tlirough  the  dealer 
or  other  distributor  should  l)e  ])rovided  with  jjroper  imj)rint 
s])a('e.  The  imprints  on  Carter's  ]>ead  blotters,  shown  at  tlie  top, 
have  been  handled  very  skilfully.  ]5ooklets,  eatalogues,  and  even 
house  organs,  must  be  imprinted. 


PLANNING  PHYSICAL  FORMS  313 

bpecial  folds  and  in  fitting  the  message  to  the  folds,  as  well 
as  die-cut  work. 

264.  The  "Cut-out"  Mechanical  Appeal  and  When  to 
Use  It. — As  a  variation  in  a  follow-up,  or  in  an  original 
campaign,  the  "cut-out"  idea  is  worth  considering.  It  is 
largely  a  mechanical  appeal.  Fig.  30  illustrates  some  cut- 
out pieces ;  others  will  be  found  on  Fig.  43.  These,  as  well 
as  an  unusual  piece  like  the  one  on  Fig.  72,  require  the 
making  of  special  dies,  or  cutting  knives.  Cut-outs  are  a 
"clever"  method  of  approach  but  must  be  used  with  care, 
or  the  cleverness  will  offset  the  appeal  of  the  piece. 
A  firm  specializing  in  cut-outs  says  this:  "We  will  never 
consent  to  an  odd-shaped  piece  unless  that  shape  is  sug- 
gested by  the  title,  or  the  matter  contained  in  it  is  appro- 
priate to  or  suggestive  of  the  occasion.  Neither  do  we  plan 
for  two  or  three  pieces  of  odd-shaped  literature  to  follow 
one  another.  Occasionally,  though,  a  house  organ  can  be 
gotten  out  in  the  same  shape  month  after  month  and  not 
lose  any  of  its  effectiveness. ' ' 

265.  Binding  Direct  Advertising. — The  auto-contained 
pieces  of  Chapter  III  do  not,  as  a  rule,  require  any  method 
of  binding,  but  booklets,  house  organs,  catalogues — all  re- 
quire bindings.  In  general,  the  binding  is  on  the  long  side 
)f  the  page,  known  as  the  square  binding  style.  Those 
bound  on  the  short  side  of  the  page  are  referred  to  as  ob- 
ong  binding.  The  typographical  arrangement  and  display 
usually  guide  the  binding.  The  chocolate  catalogue  shown 
on  Fig.  16  is  bound  the  oblong  way  because  the  boxes  are 
better  suited  for  the  wide  than  for  the  high  page. 

266.  Sometimes  Catalogues  or  Booklets  Are  Loose- 
leaf. — As  noted  in  Section  43,  catalogues,  occasionally  other 
forms,  may  be  loose-leaf.  In  those  cases  the  methods  of 
binding  are  various,  frequently  patented  for  the  purpose 
in  hand.  The  chocolate  catalogue  referred  to  in  other 
places  is  bound  by  ordinary  brass  brads.  Other  methods  c6 
loose-leaf  binding  are  with  cord,  silk,  shoe-string,  ribbon, 
leather  thongs,  and  the  like.  Where  the  publisher  of  a 
catalogue  has  a  system  whereby  salesmen  or  other  persons 


314 


EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


call  regularly  and  keep  the  catalogue  up-to-date,  or  other- 
wise when  frequent  changes  are  necessary,  the  loose-leaf 
idea  of  binding  is  very  good.  However,  it  should  be  borne 
in  mind  that  the  average  user  of  a  catalogue  will  not  trouble 
to  keep  a  loose-leaf  catalogue  up  to  date. 

267.  Styles  of  Binding  Described. — Fig.  74  illustrates 
several  of  the  usual  methods  of  binding  books,  and  we  are 


Tie  A  SADDLE  WIRIAje, 
BEFORE  WIB£S  APiE 
PUSHED  THROU&H 
AND  CLAMPED 


TI&B' 

SEWED  AND 

PASTED 
SIGNATURES 


TieO  SIDEW|R»A|6, 

AFTER.  WHICH 

COVER  IS  PASTED 


LIME/SI  BACK 


COVEsd""      ^ 


Tl&  D  •  TOP  •  SECT  lONAU 

VIEW  OF  METHOD  OF 

REINFOCCE.MENT  BV 

UN  EN   BACK    AND 

PASTED- IN  FUES 


\Ni:FLY  LEAF 
«END  SHEET  PASTED  INSIDE  COVERS 


Fig.  74. — This  line  engraving  graphically  portrays 
the  four  main  methods  of  binding  direct-advertibing 
books,  booklets,  catalogues,  house  organs,  and  the  like. 


PLANNING  PHYSICAL  FORMS  315 

indebted  to  the  House  of  Hubbell,  Cleveland,  for  the  prep- 
aration of  this  helpful  illustration.  Fig,  A  illustrates  the 
commonest  style  of  binding  small  books,  called  "saddle  wir- 
ing" or  "saddle  stitching."  The  book  in  binding  rides 
astride  a  metal  "saddle,"  half  on  either  side,  and  the  wires 
or  stitches  go  right  through  its  back  to  be  clamped  or  tied. 

Fig.  B  shows  a  more  complicated  method.  This  is  ordi- 
nary "sewing."  Each  "signature"  (usually  eight  or  six- 
teen pages)  is  sewed  in  such  a  way  as  to  hold  its  pages 
together  with  the  group  of  signatures  which  make  up  the 
book.  This  method  is  used  in  heavy  books  only  and  the 
cover  must  be  pasted  on  to  the  back  folds  of  the  sheets. 

Fig.  C  is  the  method  known  as  side  wiring,  which  is 
much  stronger  than  the  method  shown  in  Fig.  B,  but  it  has 
a  disadvantage  inasmuch  as  the  book  will  not  lie  flat  when 
opened.     Here,  too,  the  cover  must  be  pasted. 

Probably  the  best  method  for  the  binding  of  a  heavy  cata- 
logue is  sewing  and  pasting,  with  a  linen  back  cover,  and 
pasted  down  "flies,"  or  end-sheets  as  they  are  called  (the 
sheets  just  inside  the  front  and  back  covers).  Fig.  D 
shows  a  clever  handling  of  this  problem  with  the  flies 
folded  inside  the  first  and  last  signatures,  these  being  called 
"turned  fly  leaves."  This  method  makes  an  almost  perfect 
binding  but  is  necessarily  more  expensive. 

There  are  some  printers  who  make  a  so-called  semi- 
permanent binding  by  an  ingenious  folding  of  paper  and 
boards,  but  the  above  comprise  the  usual  commercial  styles. 

268.  Imprinting  a  Method  of  Personalizing. — In  plan- 
ning all  pieces  which  are  to  reach  the  prospect  through  the 
hands  of  others,  or  if  the  purchase  has  to  be  made  other 
than  direct  from  the  publisher  of  the  piece,  it  is  often  desir- 
able and  frequently  necessary  actually  to  imprint  (to  print 
on  after  the  original  printing),  or  provide  space  for  the 
imprint  of  the  local  dealer,  agent,  salesman,  wholesaler,  or 
other  distributor. 

Fig.  73  illustrates  how  imprint  space  has  been  provided 
on  several  different  pieces.  Shrewd  direct  advertisers  try 
to  plan  the  imprint  space  so  that  to  the  final  recipient  of 


316         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

the  piece  it  does  not  look  like  an  "afterthought"  but  as 
a  real  part  of  the  piece  itself.  This  pleases  the  distributor, 
of  course,  and  makes  closer  working  harmony  and  serves 
the  recipient. 

It  is  not  the  rule  of  some  manufacturers  to  imprint  cata- 
logues. "Where  they  do  not  imprint  them  and  send  them  to 
the  distributor  for  use  the  latter  almost  invariably  rubber- 
stamps  his  name  and  address  upon  them.  Progressive 
firms  either  imprint  or  provide  "presentation  stickers"  in 
the  front  of  the  catalogue  or  book,  thus  tying  up  the  man- 
ufacturer with  the  local  distributor. 

269.  Planning  Mechanically  the  Return  Piece. — The 
usual  return  piece  is  a  postal  card,  since  no  envelope  is 
required  and  it  is  easy  for  the  prospect  to  fill  out.  Varia- 
tions of  this  are  order  blanks  and  reply-sheets.  If  the  busi- 
ness is  of  such  a  nature  that  the  prospects  are  not  desirous 
of  the  public's  knowing  about  it,  do  not  use  the  return 
postal  card;  use  order-blank  and  envelope.  A  fluid  for  re- 
moving superfluous  hair  advertised  to  women  would  require 
the  latter  plan,  for  example. 

On  Fig.  64  there  is  illustrated  the  reverse  of  a  timely 
return  card  inclosed  with  a  Butler  Brothers'  house  organ. 
Note  the  extra  tab  to  the  right.  On  the  front  of  this  extra 
tab  there  appears  a  miniature  reproduction  of  the  poster 
offered,  printed  in  colors. 

By  planning  the  mechanical  appeal,  improved  results 
can  be  secured.  On  Fig.  63  the  "Lines"  card  is  an  illustra- 
tion of  an  attempt  to  tie  up  the  return  card  with  a  fishing- 
season  house  organ.     This  is  the  timely  appeal. 

The  card  of  the  Society  of  Poster  Art  (Fig.  64)  shows 
how  by  adding  colored  borders  (green  in  the  original)  at 
both  ends  of  the  return  card  it  was  given  an  added  attrac- 
tiveness. While  on  Fig.  63  a  method  of  mechanically  making 
it  easy  for  the  prospect  to  fix  a  future  date  for  the  salesman 
to  call,  or  to  receive  samples  by  mail,  is  shown.  Ed.  Wolff, 
advertising  manager,  David  Adler  &  Sons  Clothing  Com- 
pany, in  Mailbag  for  August,  1919,  gave  the  results  of  two 
tests  on  return  cards,  and  these  tests  showed  that  while 


PLANNING  PHYSICAL  FORMS  317 

the  plain  card  pulled  14  per  cent  returns,  the  colored  card 
brought  back  22  per  cent  returns. 

C.  C.  Casey,  in  an  excellent  article  entitled  "Putting 
Individuality  into  Return  Cards"  (Printers'  Ink,  Decem- 
ber 16,  1915)  gave  these  five  rules  out  of  many  years'  ex- 
perience: "First.  Give  the  return  card  individuality  by 
making  it  fit  the  letter  (piece)  it  goes  with.  Second. 
Give  the  card  quality  by  printing  it  like  the  letter  (piece). 
Third.  Filled-in  names  put  extra  'pull'  into  cards.  If  it 
costs  too  much,  then  leave  off  the  fill-in  on  the  letter  and  put 
it  on  the  card.  Fourth.  Use  good  quality  of  stock  for  post- 
cards. Fifth.  The  net  cost  of  return  cards,  like  the  net 
cost  of  everything  else,  is  in  the  comparative  efficiency." 

Fig.  63  also  illustrates  the  use  of  the  humorous 
appeal  to  bring  back  the  card. 

Where  a  free  booklet  is  offered,  or  anything  free  for  that 
matter,  picturing  it  helps  to  increase  the  returns,  for  it 
portrays  to  the  reader  what  he  will  get.  On  Fig.  63 
there  is  shown  how  this  has  been  effected  on  the  order  side 
of  a  return  card.  At  top  of  Fig.  64  both  sides  of  a  return 
card  are  shown.  Note  how  on  the  face  of  it  use  has  been 
made  of  the  left  side  of  the  card — allowed  by  postal  rules 
and  regulations  (see  Chapter  XX)  ;  also  note  that  this  card 
was  signed  before  being  mailed  out.  Further  than  that, 
note  how  the  names  of  banks  near  to  the  bank  addressed 
(New  York  state)  have  been  imprinted  on  the  card,  thus 
localizing  the  appeal,  making  it  more  personal.  This  card 
is  personalized  in  three  ways,  then :  (1)  An  actual  picture 
of  the  New  York  state  salesman  on  the  front;  (2)  names 
of  nearby  banks  printed,  and  (3)  the  name  of  the  individ- 
ual and  bank  filled  in  before  the  card  was  mailed  out. 

There  is  shown  on  Fig.  64  also  one  side  of  a  coupon- 
order  blank  such  as  is  frequently  used  by  subscription 
agencies. 

See  Fig.  10  for  an  example  of  a  double  return  card  offer- 
ing an  easy  way  mechanically,  for  the  prospect  to  act. 

Fig.  75  shows  how  "differentness"  as  well  as  a  service 
appeal  has  been  given  ^'return  card.    The  tab  "Printing" 


318         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

turns  this  5x3  return  card  into  a  handy  filing  card. 

The  space  utilized  by  the  salesman's  picture  in  the  case 
of  the  Addressograph  Company  card  is  often  occupied  by 
a  free  book  offer  (see  Fig.  64). 

Most  cards  read  the  long  way  of  the  card,  but  you  will 
note  on  Fig.  64  one  card  which  runs  the  narrow  way  and  yet 
is  mechanically  attractive. 

If  you  build  your  return  cards  on  this  principle  you 
will  get  back  the  maximum  number  of  them :  So  plan  the 
return  card  that  it  retells  the  whole  story,  that  is,  the  BIG 
idea  of  the  piece  it  accompanies;  and  let  it  suggest  action. 


y  PRINTING  \^ 


F 

(If  you  are  not  now  in  the  market  for  printinj?.  put  this  card  i 

n  your  follow-up  index) 

♦1 

(jentlemen: 

On  or  about 

we  shall 

rpqiiirp. 

and.  inf^M 

he  glad  to  see  your  representative. 

Onr  Mr 

is  in  charge  of  such  matters. 

Nnmr.  nf  Firm, 

[♦ 

♦1 

Fig.  75. — This  cut  shows  how,  by  mechanical  means,  a  return  card 
can  be  given  both  a  mechanical  and  a  mental  appeal. 

Then  if  the  return  card  gets  separated  from  the  main  piece, 
or  is  laid  aside,  the  reader  has  the  whole  story  there  and 
will  feel  free  to  act,  when  otherwise  he  might  delay  by  won- 
dering whether  he  remembered  the  original  offer  and  in 
thinking  it  would  turn  up  in  due  course. 

In  preparing  the  return  card  (or  other  come-back)  as  a 
part  of  the  mailing  piece  be  sure  that  it  is  logically  placed, 
.easily  detached,  and  follows  the  rest  of  the  rules  set  forth 
in  this  Section  and  in  Section  250, 


PLANNING  PHYSICAL  FORMS  319 

Fig.  75  illustrates  a  postal  card  separate  from  the  mail- 
ing piece  but  attached  with  a  sticker,  while  on  Fig.  76  the 
return  cards  are  an  integral  part  of  the  mailing  pieces. 
If  properly  handled,  experience  shows  that  separate  cards 
are  more  effective  than  attached  cards  or  cards  made  with 
and  as  a  part  of  the  mailing  piece. 

270.  Watch  the  Size  in  Planning  Mailing  Pieces. — One 
mechanical  angle  so  simple  and  obvious  that  it  would  seem 
unnecessary  to  mention  is  the  planning  of  the  size.  Espe- 
cially should  size  be  borne  in  mind  when  heavy  weights  of 
cardboard  are  used.  Postmen  fold  heavy  cardboard  and 
break  it.  Watch  a  postman  deliver  his  mail  in  a  big  city, 
see  the  strap  he  has  about  the  different  lots,  and  when  you 
plan  a  piece  remember  that  strap  and  its  leverage. 

271.  Mechanical  Methods  of  Keying. — You  "key"  di- 
rect advertising  as  a  method  of  knowing  the  source  of  the 
inquiry.  The  original  method  of  keying  was  by  fictitious 
street  addresses;  21  Main  Street  meant  a  broadside,  while 
22  Main  Street  meant  a  booklet,  and  so  on.  Other  meth- 
ods include  the  use  of  different  colored  cardboard,  or  dif- 
ferent colored  inks  on  the  same  colored  cardboard,  or  again 
by  slightly  changing  the  name  of  the  booklet,  or  referring 
to  it  by  name,  number,  letter,  or  by  a  peculiar  description 
each  time  as  ''Our  home-decorating  book,"  "Our  booklet  on 
how  to  decorate  a  home,"  "The  home-beautiful  booklet," 
and  so  on.  Most  inquirers  copy  from  the  original  advertise- 
ment. Dates,  localities,  salesmen's  names  (actual  or  fic- 
titious)  are  a  few  other  methods  of  keying. 

Questions  for  Class  Work  or  Review  Purposes 

1.  Wherein  does  this  chapter  differ  from  material  in  Chapters 
VIII  and  X?    Explain. 

2.  Give  the  several  different  kinds  of  covers. 

3.  Would  you  expect  to  print  a  13-page  book?    Why  not? 

4.  Explain  the  follow-through  principle.  See  if  you  can  find 
a  sample  of  direct  advertising  which  violates  th^s  principle. 

5.  Would  you  recommend  a  campaign  of  six  pieces,  all  cut- 
outs?    How  about  three? 


320         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

6.  Choose  from  any  available  source  specimens  of  the  various 
methods  of  binding  a  book. 

7.  At  the  local  stores  see  if  you  can  find  some  specimens  of  good 
and  bad  planning  of  imprint  space. 

8.  Give  the  principle  for  planning,  from  a  mechanical  view- 
point, return  cards,  and  order  blanks. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  TYPOGEAPHY 

The  thought  or  idea  to  he  communicated  acquires  or  loses 
force,  directness,  clearness,  lucidity,  heauty,  in  proportion  to  the 
fitness  of  the  typography  employed  as  a  medium. — George 
French. 

272.  Typography  Is  the  Vehicle  of  Expression. — You 
have  a  direct-advertising  campaign  all  planned  out  in  ac- 
cordance with  principles  previously  laid  down,  but  to  ex- 
press— communicate — that  idea  to  your  possible  prospects 
the  various  physical  forms  must  be  duplicated  in  some  way, 
as  we  shall  take  up  in  Section  327.  But  no  matter  what 
method  of  duplication  is  decided  upon  the  words,  ideas, 
thoughts  will  be  conveyed,  at  least  in  large  measure,  by 
type. 

"The  New  Standard  Dictionary"  defines  type  as  a  piece 
or  block  of  metal  or  of  wood,  bearing  on  its  upper  surface, 
usually  in  relief,  a  letter  or  character  for  use  in  printing; 
also,  such  pieces  collectively.  Even  if  the  physical  form  is 
a  letter,  form  or  personal,  it  will  be  reproduced  from  type. 
Typography  and  display  are  inseparably  interwoven,  to  be 
sure,  and  both  are  means  of  expression.  The  six  main 
methods  of  display — which  is  in  a  way  the  emphasis  we 
would  use  if  we  were  talking  our  message — are :  (1)  Display 
type;  (2)  Body  type;  (3)  Illustrations;  (4)  Color;  (5) 
Margins  and  arrangements  of  pages,  columns,  etc.,  and  (6) 
Hand-lettering,  borders,  ornaments,  etc. 

In  this  chapter  we  shall  take  up  only  the  matter  of 
typography,  the  basic — and  simplest — form  of  expressing 
and  emphasizing  our  idea. 

273.  Typography  Not  to  Be  Confused  with  Multiplicity 
of  Type   Styles. — In  studying  typography   it   should   be 

321 


322         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

emphasized  early  that  there  is  no  need  for  a  multiplicity  of 
type  styles,  and  this  book  will  not  indulge  in  page  after 
page  of  Piquant,  Petite,  Mon  Petite,  Paralyzing,  and  Pow- 
erful, families  of  type  styles  in  all  their  different  ramifica- 
tions, of  body,  bold,  italic,  extended,  condensed,  extra  wide, 
outline,  and  the  like.  You  can  get  an  idea  of  the  enormous 
number  of  type  styles  by  securing  a  specimen  book  from 
any  of  the  large  type-founders;  there  are  as  many  styles 
of  type  as  there  are  styles  of  men's  collars,  and  at  least 
a  few  new  ones  each  season.  We  shall  try  to  stick  to  the 
study  of  typography  only ;  or,  rather,  the  expressing  of  the 
idea  by  the  use  of  type. 

Perhaps  the  best  illustration  of  non- 
necessity of  the  many  different   styles  of 
types  in  printing  offices  is  this  paragraph 
taken  in  connection  with  the  one  which  follows. 
This  paragraph  is  set  in  elite  typewriter 
type. 

This  paragraph  is  set  in  pica 
typewriter  type.      With  these  two  styles 
of  type  practically  100  per  cent  of  all 
personal  and  form  letters  are 
reproduced. 

Those  experienced  in  printing  will  know  that  the  exact 
size  of  actual  (the  preceding  paragraphs  are  set  in  imita- 
tion typewriter  type)  typewriter  type  is  not  the  same  as 
of  printer's  type.  Considering  elite  and  pica  typewriter 
type  for  the  moment,  Louis  Victor  Eytinge,  in  31ailbag  for 
May,  1917,  went  on  record  as  saying:  "Actual  tests  have 
demonstrated  that  elite  type  generally  is  more  efficient  than 
pica.  Not  only  is  it  the  most  generally  used  style  of  type- 
face, but  through  its  compactness  and  size  it  permits  use  of 
larger  margins  and  between-paragraph  spacing.  However, 
there  are  exceptions." 

274.  What  Typography  Must  Do. — Benjamin  Sherbow, 
author  of  "Making  Type  Work,"  Sherbow 's  Type  Charts, 


THE  TYPOGRAPHY  323 

and  an  acknowledged  expert  on  typography,  sums  up  what 
typography  must  do  in  two  brief  sentences : 

First:     Attract  the  reader's  attention  to  the  message. 
Second:     Hold  the  reader's  attention  until  message  is  read. 

Every  planner  of  direct  advertising  should  make  these 
two  sentences  a  part  of  his  working  creed. 

275.  Technical  Details  About  Type. — For  clarity  it  will 
be  necessary  to  take  up  a  few  technical  details  about  type. 

Almost  without  exception  in  every  style  or  face  (by  this 
word  we  have  reference  to  the  formation  of  the  letters  in  a 
style  of  type)  of  Roman  type  you  will  find : 

1.  ALPHABETS  OF  ROMAN  CAPITALS  OR 
''CAPS"  OR  "UPPER  CASE"  AS  THE  PRINTER 
CALLS  THEM. 

2.  ALPHABETS  OF  SMALL  CAPITALS  KNOWN  AS  "  SMALL 
CAPS. ' ' 

3.  alphabets  of  small  letters  known  as  "lower  case." 

4.  A  FOURTH  SERIES  KNOWN  AS  ITALICS  IN 
''CAPS." 

5.  as  well  as  italics  lower  case. 

"Case"  is  the  compartment  in  which  the  type  itself  is 
kept  by  the  printer,  the  "upper  case"  holding  the  capitals 
and  the  "lower  case"  the  small  letters. 

"Rom'an"  in  its  capitals  was  derived  from  the  archi- 
tectural alphabet  of  the  Romans  and  in  its  "lower  case" 
letters  from  the  written  books  of  Italian  copyists. 

This  line  is  set  in  Caslon  Old  Style  (Roman). 

Most  Roman  type  faces  may  be  placed  in  one  of  two 
classes:  "Old  Style"  and  "Modern."  This  paragraph  is 
set  in  De  Vinne,  a  Modern  Roman  type.  Old  Style,  as  a 
rule,  shows  a  greater  freedom  of  design.  Old  Style  serifs 
(see  Figure  77)  are  usually  oblique,  while  j\Iodern  serifs 
are  generally  horizontal.  For  example,  a  lower  case  "1" 
in  Old  Style  types  has  the  top  of  the  letter  finished  off  with 
a  slanting  stroke  (or  serif),  while  in  Modern  types  this 
finishing  stroke  is  horizontal. 

In  addition  to  Roman  and  Italic,  mentioned  in  the  preceding 
paragraphs,  we   have   Text  or   Black   Letter  and   the   misnamed 


324         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

"Gothic"  type,  devoid  of  serifs,  primitive  In  design,  and  lacking  In 
those  elements  of  Interest  and  artistic  value  usually  found  in  other 
Roman  type  faces.  Its  blackness  is  offensive  to  the  eye  despite 
the  simplicity  of  the  characters  and  it  cannot  be  recommended  for 
general  use. 

Ubfs  paraarapbls  set  In  true  (Botbtc  tppeftnown 
as  Ueit,  or  JBlacft  Xctter, 

The  preceding  is  rather  hard  to  read,  though  it  is  sug- 
gestive of  quality  at  times  as  in  Figure  78C. 

Italic,  to  some  extent  an  inclined  Roman,  in  ''lower  case," 
was  introduced  by  Aldus  four  hundred  years  ago,  and 
capitals  later  by  Garamond.  Italics  are  used  for  emphasis 
in  body  matter  and  for  variety  in  type  effects.  It  does 
not  present  a  legible  appearance  as  a  body  type  in  solid 
paragraphs. 

This  paragraph  is  set  in  Antique  No.  3  Bold,  which  is 
the  very  simplest  form  of  display,  but  see  Section  278. 

"Points"  are  the  units  upon  which  type  sizes  are  based. 
They  are  now  standardized  by  all  type-founders.  A  point 
is  one  seventy-second  of  an  inch. 

This  is  6  point  Do  Vinne. 

This  is  8-point  De  Vinne. 

This  is  10-point  De  Vinne. 

Among  the  other  sizes  of  type  are  12-,  14-,  18-,  24-,  30-, 
36-,  42-,  48-,  60-,  and  72-points,  though  some  faces  are  found 
in  odd  sizes  like  iYo-,  5V2-,  7-,  9-,  and  11-point.  Wood  type, 
used  for  large  handbills,  posters,  etc.,  may  be  had  in  very 
large  sizes,  some  of  them  inches  deep. 

"The  em"  is  a  square,  each  side  of  which  is  equal  to 
the  height  of  body  of  that  type.  For  example,  a  10-point 
em  is  a  square  10  points  by  10  points,  thus  M. 

The  12-point  em,  known  as  "pica,"  is  always  used  as  a 
unit  to  measure  the  length  (or  measure,  as  it  is  called)  of  a 
line  of  type,  the  width  of  an  advertisement,  or  column. 
For  example,  a  standard  newspaper  column  is  known  as 
13  ems  pica,  or  2^X2  inches.  A  few  Metropolitan  newspa- 
pers use  the  121/2  eras  pica  column,  however. 

"Quads"  are  pieces  of  type  less  than  type  height  for 
making  indentions,  filling  out  lines,  and  so  on, 


Fig.  70. — IMailinp:  pieces  whieli  have  the  return  card  as  an  in- 
tcfiral  iiart  of  the  piece  itself  as  represented  in  tiie  above  illustra- 
tion. Note,  in  the  case  of  the  Si/stcm  card,  the  use  of  the  arrow 
to  lead  the  prospect's  eye. 


THE  TYPOGRAPHY  325 

"Spaces"  are  blank  pieces  of  type  also  lower  than  the 
type  face.  They  are  used  to  separate  words  and  sometimes 
to  separate  the  letters  of  a  word.  This  phrase  is 
*'letterspaced.'' 

''Leads"  are  thin  strips  of  metal,  inserted  between  lines 
of  type  to  "open  them  up" — and  like  quads  and  spaces 
the  leads  are  not  so  high  as  the  type  and  therefore  do  not 
print.  If  they  printed  they  would  be  in  effect  underscore 
marks.  This  paragraph  is  spaced  with  1-point  leads.  It 
takes  12  of  these  leads  to  make  a  pica. 

This  paragraph  has  2-point  leads,  meaning  6  to  the  pica ; 
other  leads  are  3-,  and  4-point,  referring,  respectively,  to 
4  leads  to  the  pica,  and  3  leads  to  the  ^ica.  When  two  two- 
point  leads  are  inserted  between  lines  of  type  the  spacing 
is  known  as  double  leaded. 

Strips  of  6-point  and  12-point  material  are  termed  "non- 
pareil" and  "pica"  slugs,  respectively. 

Fig.  77  illustrates  a  small  advertisement  as  it  would 
appear  locked  up  in  a  chase  (the  frame  holding  the  type, 
quads,  leads,  borders,  furniture,  etc.). 

276.  How  Type  May  Be  Set. — Originally  all  type  was 
set  by  hand.  That  is,  the  individual  letters  were  taken  out 
of  the  upper,  or  lower  case,  with  the  necessary  spaces, 
quads,  leads,  and  so  on,  to  make  a  form,  as  the  printer 
terms  a  set-up  advertisement,  and  then  printed  from  those 
original  types. 

In  hand  composition  (the  printer  speaks  of  setting  up 
type  by  any  method  as  "composition")  the  compositor 
"justifies"  each  of  the  lines  to  make  them  of  equal  length  by 
inserting  letter-spaces  of  varying  thickness  between  the 
words  so  as  to  make  them  appear  to  the  eye  of  the  reader 
as  equally  spaced.  Take  a  page  of  typewriting:  note  how 
sometimes  two  words  seem  farther  apart  than  two  others, 
especially  where  the  words  end  with  "y"  and  start  with 
"e,"  for  example.  This  is  because  the  spaces  are  all  alike; 
in  hand  composition  whether  the  letters  seemed  to  fit  in 
together  or  not  the  composition  would  make  them  please  the 
eye  by  spacing. 


326         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

The  linotype  is  a  machine  for  setting  type,  a  line  at  a 
TIME;  the  line  when  cast  in  melted  lead  and  hardened  by 
the  machine  being  known  as  a  slug.  A  linotype  has  a  key- 
board somewhat  like  a  large  typewriter,  and  magazines  of 
the  various  styles  of  type  it  will  set,  usually  body  types 
only,  from  6-  to  14-point.  If  there  is  an  error  in  a  line 
of  material  set  by  the  linotype  the  entire  line  must  be 
reset.     This  book  is  set  on  the  linotype. 

Monotype  composition  requires  two  machines.  One  key- 
board, operated  like  a  typewriter,  cuts  perforations  in  a 
strip  of  paper,  making  that  strip  resemble  the  playing  roll 
of  a  player-piano.  This  strip  is  then  placed  in  a  second  ma- 
chine which  casts  and  sets  up  the  type  one  letter  at  a 
TIME.  In  monotype  composition  each  letter  or  character  is 
a  separate  unit,  and  corrections  may  be  made  of  any  char- 
acter in  a  line  without  resetting  the  line. 

Monotype  composition  is  especially  recommended  for  tab- 
ular matter  broken  by  rules,  such  as  price  lists,  or  where 
there  is  much  "running  around"  to  be  done.  By  "run- 
ning around,"  the  printer  has  reference  to  setting  type 
to  go  at  the  sides  or  above  or  below  a  half-tone  or  other 
illustration, 

277.  Experts  Agree  that  Simplicity  Spells  Success  in 
Typographic  Display. — There  is  no  typographic  display 
expert  who  will  not  most  emphatically  state  that  simplicity 
spells  success  in  typographic  display.  Hal  Marchbanks 
says:  "All  print  is  intended  to  convey  a  thought.  The 
simplest  way  to  convey  a  writer's  thought  in  print  is  to 
arrange  the  message  in  a  simple,  direct,  easy -to-read  way." 
(Printers'  Ink  Monthly,  January,  1920.)  Edwin  Hamilton 
Stuart  before  the  Quotoright  Club  of  Pittsburgh  said : 
"Good  typography  is  simple."  Everett  R.  Currier  before 
the  New  York  (1919)  convention  of  the  United  Tj'pothetae 
of  America  repeated:  "When  all  is  said  and  done,  there 
is  one  word  which  stands  out  clearly  above  all  others  as 
the  guiding  star  to  good  typography — that  word  is  simplic- 
ity." -Many  others  might  be  quoted  on  the  point;  these 
few  will   show   their   agreement.     Benjamin   Sherbow   in 


THE  TYPOGRAPHY  327 

speaking  before  the  Philadelphia  convention  of  the  Asso- 
ciated Advertising  Clubs  made  this  quotation  as,  in  his 
opinion,  underlying  all  good  typographic  display:  "When 
an  idea  will  not  bear  a  simple  form  of  expression,  it  is  the 
sign  for  rejecting  it. ' ' 

278.  Securing  Simplicity  in  Typographic  Display. — 
Simplicity  is  secured  in  typographic  display  in  this  man- 
ner ;  namely,  by  using  plain,  legible  type,  and  not  by  mix- 
ing up  a  half-dozen  styles  and  shapes  and  sizes.  Theodore 
Low  DeVinne,  the  famous  New  York  printer,  first  presi- 
dent of  the  United  Typothetae  of  America,  set  forth  the 
way  to  better  typography  through  simplicity  in  the  issue 
of  Printers'  Ink,  for  January  7,  1891,  when  he  said,  in 
part: 

"Too  many  faces  of  type  are  used  in  miscellaneous  dis- 
play. If  the  compositor  is  equipped  with  a  full  series  of  this 
face  [gothic]  he  has  no  need  for  antiques,  titles,  clarendon, 
or  any  other  plain  face.  The  greater  variety  of  faces  he 
puts  on  a  page,  the  worse  he  makes  that  page  look."  At 
that  time  Mr.  DeVinne,  who  is  the  author  of  several  books 
on  composition  and  other  printing  processes,  expected  that 
customers  would  object  to  this  "simplicity." 

Mr.  Currier  in  the  talk  referred  to  in  Section  277  gave 
this  specific  advice  on  the  subject  of  securing  simplicity 
through  type  faces  now  used:  "We  find  among  the  old 
styles  the  recognized  leaders,  Caslon,  Goudy,  Kennerley. 
The  modern  faces  provide  us  with  our  staunch  friends 
Scotch  Roman  and  Bodoni.  The  antiques  give  us  the 
venerable  Old  Antique  (or  Bookman)  which  nobody  can 
tire  of  because  of  its  plain,  clear,  colorful  simplicity." 

All  of  these  types  are  old-style  or  Roman  types,  it  will  be 
noted,  and  Mr.  Currier  added,  with  reference  to  the  bold 
types,  "There  are  few  bold  faces  that  look  anything  but 
ugly,  that  do  not  disfigure  instead  of  enhance  the  message." 
He  then  recommends  as  excellent  bold  faces,  one  modern — 
Bodoni  bold  (see  Figure  78A)  and  the  other  old-style — 
Goudv  bold. 


328         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

The  three  preceding  paragraphs,  set  respectively  in  10  pt. 
old-style  Roman,  10  pt.  old-style  Bold,  and  10  pt.  Bodoni 
bold,  illustrate  the  fact  that  there  is  much  to  be  gained  by 
simplicity  and  that  legibility  is  secured  by  plain  easily- 
read,  not  too  heavy  types. 

Through  the  courtesy  of  Ellsworth  Geist  and  Printers' 
Ink  Monthly  we  illustrate  by  Fig.  78  six  different  styles  or 
faces  of  types,  and  cover  in  these  types  practically  every 
form  of  atmosphere  any  direct  advertiser  might  want. 

279.  Making  the  Typography  Attract  Attention. — In 
Section  274  we  gave  Mr.  Sherbow's  two  essentials  of  typog- 
raphy. The  first  of  these  is  to  attract  attention.  He  adds 
that  there  are  two  main  ways  of  attracting  attention  to  a 
message  by  typography : 

(1)  By  good  looks. 

(2)  By  liveliness. 

The  first  is  secured  by  (a)  making  the  printed  message 
pleasing  to  the  eye,  by  careful  choice  of  type  face,  as  well 
as  other  display,  without  overdressing;  (b)  conforming 
the  physical  dress  of  the  printed  page  to  the  character  of 
the  message  (see  Fig.  78)  ;  (c)  avoiding  superfluous  and 
distracting  ornaments  and  decorations;  (d)  relieving  the 
type  by  white  space. 

The  second  comes  from  making  the  printed  page  appear 
to  have  an  interesting  lively  story  to  tell.  Mr.  Sherbow 
secures  this  in  two  main  waj's:  (a)  by  lively  display  heads 
and  subheads,  using  for  display  type  any  type  which  by 
contrast  to  the  body  type  sticks  out  and  calls  attention  to 
itself,  and  (b)  by  breaking  up  the  page  into  short  para- 
graphs so  as  to  make  the  page  sparkle. 

Quite  frequently  the  main  message  is  carried  entirely 
by  the  display  lines,  and  the  display  must : 

1.  Stand  out. 

2.  Be  clear  and  readable. 

3.  Be  good  to  look  at. 

4.  Be  so  arranged  as  to  be  taken  in  at  a  glance. 

5.  Be  well-dressed  but  not  over-dressed.     All  emphasis  is  no 

emphasis. 


The  Locomobile 


Built  to  order  for  people 
who  wish  their  own  indi- 
viduality to  express  itself 
in  their  car.  The  personal 
preferences  in  regard  to 
motor  vehicles  may  easily 
be  gratified  in  this  car. 


LABOR 


Economically,  the  most  im- 
portant city  in  the  world  is 
Pittsburgh.  The  payroll  of 
.  the  district  is  over  two-mil- 
lion dollars  a  day  and  bank 
clearings  have  trebled  in  six 
years.  Pittsburgh  is  s\irely 
the  heart  of  industry. 


B 


(frattsiuanshitt  — 


Luscious 

Glenellen  Pears 

Ripened  in 

California 

Sunshine 


'^est-knit  Hosiery 


cA  DELIGHTFUL  tailored  6t 
—the  brauty  of  which  is  much 
enhanced  by  a  deep  rich  lusuc 
that  is  atuincd  only  by  exclu. 
live  "Bfit'knit "  process  of  finish- 
ing—lending  a  charming  touch 
ofcorrertness  to  thewell-gowned 
woman's  attire. 

A  full  range  of  colois  in  popu- 
lar weights  and  styles. 


ANCIENT 

ARCHITECTURAL 

BEAUTY 

IN  MODERN 

STRUCTURES 

OF 

VERMONT 

GRANITE 


Fig.  78. — A.  Bodoni  is  an  aristocrat.  B. 
Antique  type  expre.'sses  utility.  C.  (Jothic,  or 
what  is  more  generally  known  as  Old  English 
or  text  type,  must  be  used  wisely.  D.  Cloister 
type  is  distinctly  feminine.  E.  Caslon  serves 
well  everywhere.  F.  Forum  type  has  classic 
dignity. 

329 


330         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

280.  Making  the   Typography   Hold  the  Attention. — 

The  other  essential  of  good  typography,  as  outlined  by  IMr, 
Sherbow  in  Section  274,  is  to  hold  the  attention  once  it  is 
secured.  He  claims  there  are  but  two  ways  of  doing  this — 
(1)  By  orderly  arrangement,  and  (2)  through  ease  of  read- 
ing. 

Direct  advertising  fails  more  often  to  follow  the  idea  of 
orderly  arrangement,  especially  in  folders,  circulars,  and  the 
like,  than  any  other  form  of  advertising.  For  orderly  ar- 
rangement means  absence  of  confusion.  It  means  making  it 
easy  for  the  reader  to  follow  your  printed  message  in  se- 
quence. Section  263  had  reference  to  the  importance  of 
the  "follow-through"  in  direct  advertising.  That  was 
the  viewpoint  of  the  mechanics  of  folding,  but  it  is  equally 
applicable  from  the  standpoint  of  typography.  No  eyes, 
unless  very  much  interested,  will  follow  a  series  of  con- 
tortions to  keep  up  with  an  involved  message. 

Ease  of  reading  is  secured  by  avoiding  dark  backgrounds 
for  type  display;  by  not  setting  long  lines  or  paragraphs, 
or  whole  pages  in  capital  letters;  by  using  sparingly  italic 
or  bold  face  for  text  or  body  type,  for  they  are  hard  to 
read  and  tire  the  eyes. 

281.  The  Size  and  Face  of  Type  Help  to  Hold  Atten- 
tion.— If  you  choose  a  type  that  is  good  to  look  at,  and 
every  stroke  of  every  letter  is  clear  and  instantly  recogniz- 
able (you  probably  recall  standing  before  the  old  family 
organ  or  piano  and  gazing  with  wonder  at  some  Old-Style 
English  lettering  puzzling  out  whether  the  first  letter  was 
an  "M"  or  a  "W")  which  means  a  design  with  which  we 
are  familiar  through  long  practice  of  reading,  you  have 
taken  the  first  step  towards  holding  attention  through  eas}^ 
reading. 

The  size  of  type  is  next  in  importance,  and  small  type 
is  not  encouraging  to  the  eye ;  on  the  other  hand,  type  may 
be  entirely  too  large  for  easy  reading. 

The  length  of  the  line  is  governed  in  a  measure  by  the 
size  of  the  type  used ;  the  smaller  the  type,  the  shorter  the 
line,  as  a  general  rule. 


THE  TYPOGRAPHY  331 

Gilbert  P.  Farrar,  in  "Typography  of  Advertisements 
that  Pay, ' '  lays  down  these  rules  for  the  length  of  line : 

"Do  not  set  6-  or  8-point  any  wider  than  3  inches  (this 
is  18  pica  ems)  ;  10-point  any  wider  than  4i/^  inches  (which 
is  27  pica  ems);  12-point  any  wider  than  6  inches;  14- 
point,  71/^  inches;  18-point  can  go  as  wide  as  10  inches." 

282.  Judiciqus  Spacing  Helps  to  Hold  Attention. — 
There  are  five  methods  of  judicious  spacing,  according  to 
Sherbow,  which  will  help  to  hold  attention:  (1)  Between 
letters,  especially  in  lines  of  all  capitals — where  they  are 
used  (though- their  use  is  to  be  discouraged  because  they  are 
hard  to  read)  ;  also  at  times  desirably  in  lower-case  display 
lines,  but  should  be  avoided  in  lower-case  body  type;  (2) 
Between  words  and  sentences;  (3)  Between  lines,  or  lead- 
ing. Easy-to-read  comes  from  permitting  enough  white 
space  to  show  through  to  allow  a  clear  passage  for  the  eye; 
(4)  Paragraph  spacing;  either  by  indention  of  first  line, 
or  white  space  where  flush  paragraphing  is  used;  and  (5) 
in  the  use  of  displa^^  for  display  type  needs  plenty  of 
"breathing  space,"  which  means  white  space. 

283.  Margins  of  a  Book  Page. — The  approved  margins 
for  a  well-designed  book  page  are  that  the  narrowest  mar- 
gin appear  at  the  binding  edge ;  a  somewhat  increased  mar- 
gin at  the  top  of  the  page;  a  still  larger  margin  at  the 
outside  edge,  and  the  largest  margin  of  all  at  the  bottom 
of  the  page.  These  same  margins  may  well  be  used  in 
designing  a  good  display  of  a  form  letter  or  personal  let- 
ter, considering  the  right-hand  edge  as  the  binding  edge. 
]\Iargins  for  pages,  or  folds  of  folders,  broadsides,  and  the 
like  should  follow  the  same  rule  as  book-page  margins. 

DeVinne,  in  "The  Practice  of  Typography,"  on  the  sub- 
ject of  margins  makes  this  statement:  "The  proportions 
may  be  roughly  expressed  by  these  figures  for  the  plain 
octavo  (see  Section  493)  :  For  visible  back  margin  (after 
sewing)  4  to  5  picas;  for  head  margin  5  to  6  picas;  for 
front  margin  7  to  8  picas;  for  tail  margin  8  to  9  picas.  It 
will  be  understood  that  these  are  the  measurements  of  the 
leaf  after  sewing  and  trimming.     The  width  of  the  paper 


332         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

lost  by  trimming  or  concealed  by  sewing  must  be  estimated 
and  allowed  for  in  the  proposed  margin  on  the  pattern 
sheet."  For  pages  other  than  octavo  size  the  proportions 
4 — 5 — 7 — 8,  at  the  back,  top,  front  and  bottom,  respec- 
tively, may  be  regarded  as  perfectly  correct. 

In  mail-order  catalogues  we  find  type  crowded  to  the  edge 
of  the  pages,  but  bear  in  mind  their  lack  of  ease  in  reading 
is  offset  by  their  alluring  copy  and  promise  of  lower 
PRICES.  It  may  be  stated  parenthetically  that  mail-order 
catalogues  permit  shopping. 

284.  Arrangement  of  Special  Pages. — In  the  center  of 
a  saddle-stitch  book,  for  example,  you  have  two  facing 
pages  referred  to  as  a  center-spread.  Special  designs  are 
often  used  in  arranging  these  pages,  especially  in  a  house 
organ,  or  advertising  booklet,  but  not  generally  for  a  cata- 
logue. Fig.  86  A  illustrates  the  center-spread  of  an  envel- 
ope-inclosure  sized  booklet,  showing  use  of  art-work  in  con- 
nection with  typographic  display. 

285.  Laying  Out  the  Title  Page. — The  title  page  is 
the  threshold  of  the  booklet,  catalogue,  and  portfolio.  If 
effectively  planned  it  can  be  a  big  factor  in  making  the 
booklet  or  catalogue  successful.  Its  main  purpose  is  to  lend 
atmosphere  to  the  booklet.  Printers'  Ink  Monthly,  for 
March,  1920,  laid  down  these  rules:  "The  less  put  in  a 
title  page  the  better.  It  should  be  simple,  open,  delicate 
and  unaggressive.  It  should  not  be  overburdened  with 
detail.  It  should  merely  hint  at  the  good  things  to  follow." 
Figs.  79  and  80  represent  several  excellent  title  pages. 

Study  the  title  pages  on  Fig.  79  with  the  cover  pages  of 
the  same  books  pictured  on  Fig.  13,  and  note  how  the  title 
page  leads  the  reader  into  the  booklet. 

286.  Headlines  and  Subheads.— Headlines  are  the  sales- 
men of  your  "copy"  or  body  (text)  matter.  Typographi- 
cally, headlines  should  be  set  so  as  to  help  sell  the  idea 
rather  than  to  suit  the  printers'  taste.  This  means  "break 
by  sense." 


Fi^'.  70.  The  title  jjau'os  of  tlircc  of  the  booklets  described  and 
illustrated  elsewlicre  in  tlii^i  work.  Xote  the  use  of  hand-letteriiij,' 
in  eaeh  i-ase.  'I'lie  liiil  hlock  used  in  1li<'  piano  booklet  adds  dis- 
tiiu'liveness. 


THE  TYPOGRAPHY 


333 


Here  is  a  folder,  the  outside  display  line  reads:  "The 
Peacock  is  a  Pretty  Bird — "  and  inside  we  get  this: 

But  it  takes  the 

HOMELY  OLD  HEN 

to  deliver  the  goods. 


Fig.  80. — Three  title  pages  that  show  good  balance  ajid  dignified 
appeal.  Name  of  publisher  should  be  on  the  one,  "How  Advertising 
Helps  Salesmen." 


334         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

The  headline  is  broken  up  into  lines  that  read  with  sense. 
Compare  the  above  with  the  following: 

But  it  takes  the  Homely  Old 
Hen  to  Deliver  the 
Goods. 

Subheads  are  not  only  placed  in  the  same  relative  posi- 
tion as  main  heads,  display  lines,  but  also  may  be  set  at 
the  side,  or  in  the  margin,  or  even  cut  into  the  body  type, 
as  illustrated  in  Fig.  81. 

Headlines  and  siihheads  in  letter  reproductions:  While 
except  in  printed  letters,  it  is  not  usual  to  consider  that 
there  are  headlines,  or  subheads  in  letters,  the  truth  is  that 
the  opening  paragraph  is  to  the  letter  what  the  headline  is 
to  the  printed  piece  of  direct  advertising  as  suggested  in 
Section  248.  Strictly  from  the  standpoint  of  display  and 
emphasis  consider  the  opening  paragraph  as  a  headline, 
try  to  arrange  it  mechanically  so  as  to  attract  attention. 
This  simple  rule  is  a  means  of  eliminating  "We" 
as  the  opening  word  of  the  first  paragraph  of  effective 
letters. 

Short  paragraphs  may  be  utilized  within  letters  as  ' '  eye- 
catchers.  ' ' 

Likewise  you  can  make  the  postscript  a  powerful  piece  of 
advertising  display  in  the  form  letter.  Some  of  the  most 
efficient  planners  of  letters  spend  more  time  on  the  open- 
ing paragraph  and  the  postscript  than  they  do  on  all  the 
rest  of  the  letter,  for  they  feel  sure  that  if  they  can  get  the 
prospect  to  read  the  first  paragraph  he  will  read  the  rest  of 
the  letter,  and  if  the  prospect  reads  the  letter  they  plan 
on  using  the  postscript  as  the  "cracker"  to  the  whip,  the 
final  urge  to  action.  The  postscript  is  also  used  for  special 
offers  or  in  making  separate  propositions. 

Other  means  of  emphasis  within  letter  reproductions  is 
the  use  of  all  capital  letters,  though  hard  to  read.  Words 
may  be  spaced  out  as  these  words  are,  but  this,  too, 
makes  the  line  hard  to  read.  The  underscore  (with  its  lim- 
itations) is  referred  to  in  Section  336. 

Since  two-color  ribbons  are  being  used  more  and  more, 
form   letters   are   often   typed   in   two    colors,   the   head- 


A 


Expl< 


tnd  Blasting  Supplies       I 

nn  m  not  inlrmlcd  to  fv  *M  the  Fu  / 


TK«  uUtoft  of  RMnurMtunn  m  not  inlrfMled  to  r*'  •"  the  hi 

wovbj  uke  loo  moth  •p««.  TKfy  «>»•  tiw  l'«d«  nuna  and  thi 
mml)  *n4  wtifht*  af  MkIu  tnrf  hou*.  demindni  by  puniuMn,  •  . 
p*mJ  on  Ihr  MpfMWtion  tK*l  btaiUr*  ind  fauyfn  0/  nploMvct 
(hey  need,  flu*  bullrtm  utchi^  npliAaliom  o(  the  n*mn  ui  I 
t>lutintezploaiv«sarcnAdetndanrkMcd.outla>Mthcirpropmiei  j 
dear  ibt  work  umI  con^Uon*  for  wkidi  eadi  t^dt  u  lolt 

tWe  an  tcerc*  ol  ildlrmtl  kuvJi  of  apIoMw  mtde 

famW  tcnn  h  powder     Other  name*  are  farm  po  | 

KUDM       povnltf.  contractoi'i  powtitt.  coal  powder.  ituinp«n«  i 

*on  powder.  leUtin.  bUitinc  fhun.  R.  R.  P..  pant  1 1 

Nearty  every  one  of  the  erplouvet  deiifnalMl  by  thcM  M  J 
in  Mvcril  itrenith*.  and  m  guaiiiei  to  mt'a  raryinj  cortditMna.  I 
•on  fifuret  and  other  marlu  are  attached  to  the  name*  to  duta^  I 
In  addition  to  lhi»  »onne  of  the  name*  are  u*ed  U  doifTHitc  no  ' 
tajB  eipkwttc  but  •eveni  widely  dJFercnt  onea.    Thit  u  pwti 

(iatioiu  are  fiven  in  detail  on  other  pafca 


Uwo 


8 

The  driwct  of  ■       l- 

"•"cleJidla^'  ""*  "«  ''"'"  of  ,),"\r^^' 
P"  "»'=>•  Sr^''"t"'""'''M  no,. ,,"■"»« 
•^c.    °"^  "r  J.«d  „  ri.„  of "^^P- » 


Fig.  81. — This  line  engraving  illustrates  several  methods  of 
using  subheads  and  sideheads.  A.  Examples  of  regular,  cen- 
tered subhead  (Explosives  and  Blasting  Supplies)  and  cut-in 
sideheads  (Names).  B.  Here  the  subhead,  in  italics,  is  set  in  a 
line  by  itself  at  the  side  and  not  cut-in.  C.  Subhead  is  set  in 
bold-face  and  placed  in  the  first  line  of  the  paragraph.  D. 
Subhead  or  sidehead  entirely  in  margin.  E.  Same  as  exam- 
ple D  except  that  subheads  are  cut  ofT  from  page  by  rule 
borders. 

335 


336         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

lines  and  subheads  (or  the  copy  that  would  be  equivalent  to 
them)  being  printed  in  red. 

287.  Initials,  Ornaments,  and  Captions. — Ornaments  are 
not  in  vogue  now  as  they  once  were  typographically.  Fig. 
24  shows  the  use  of  an  "  initial "  I  to  attract  attention  to 
the  beginning  of  the  message.  Fig,  11  C  illustrates  the  use 
of  a  two-color  initial  with  a  printed  letter.  Personally  we 
feel  that  the  initial  used  is  several  sizes  too  large  for  the 
letter.  A  comparison  of  the  various  inclosures  on  Fig.  25, 
with  and  without  initials,  will  show  how  one  is  lost  by  reason 
of  the  large  amount  of  white  space,  while  a  second  is  of  a 
different  face  of  type  and  inharmonious.  Fig.  24  repre- 
sents good  use  of  the  initial  and  also  of  the  ornamental  rule 
at  the  top.  Initials  should  not  be  too  far  away  from  the  rest 
of  the  word  and  they  should  not  conflict  with  the  rest  of  the 
typography. 

Captions  under  illustrations  are  a  form  of  typographic 
emphasis  often  overlooked  by  users  of  direct  advertising. 
Where  an  illustration  is  used  very  frequently,  the  adding  of 
a  strongly  written  information  caption  will  make  the  illus- 
tration more  effective.  Usually  captions  are  set  in  italics, 
though  this  is  not  necessary. 

288.  Planning  the  Typography. — Four  things  to  con- 
sider in  planning  the  typographic  layout  of  any  direct  ad- 
vertising are : 

(1)  The  character  of  the  copy,  and  the  adaptation  of  a 
face  of  type  which  will  harmonize  with  the  business  of  the 
advertiser,  if  possible.  For  example,  a  more  stolid  type 
is  necessary  for  advertising  labor  (see  Fig.  78  B)  than  in 
appealing  to  the  ladies  (see  Fig.  78  D). 

(2)  The  audience  appealed  to;  that  is,  men,  women,  chil- 
iren ;  and  various  subdivisions  such  as  business  men,  pro- 
fessional  men,    housewives,    mistresses   of    mansions,    etc. 

(3)  The  proportions  of  the  type  page,  or  fold.  Remem- 
ber the  golden  mean  is  as  3  is  to  5 ;  Figs.  79  and  80  are  all 
in  proportion  to  the  golden  mean. 

(4)  The  surface  of  the  paper  on  which  the  job  is  to  be 
printed. 


Fig  82. — Addiiiji'  tlie  illustration  to  the  letterhead  produced  an 
iiiereased  return  from  letters  sent  out  to  the  same  prospects.  See 
text  for  details. 


THE  TYPOGRAPHY  337 

Here  are  a  few  questions  you  should  ask  yourself  in, 
planning  the  typography  of  any  piece  of  direct  advertising : 
What  must  this  piece  do?  How  can  I  so  plan  the  typog- 
raphy as  to  attract  most  quickly  the  reader's  attention? 
most  easily  hold  it  to  the  end?  How  can  I  make  it  easier 
for  the  reader  ? 

Mail-order  houses  test  most  carefully  their  catalogues  to 
find  out  the  pulling  power  of  various  typographic  arrange- 
ments, and  one  mail-order  man  in  Printers'  Ink  for  October 
17,  1918,  made  this  statement  about  the  mail-order  cata- 
logue: "If  the  catalogue  is  to  pay,  it  must  be  compact — 
it  must  show  and  say  as  much  as  possible  in  the  smallest 
space  possible,  without  sacrificing  readability." 

One  thing  every  user  of  direct  advertising  should  get 
firmly  fixed  in  mind  with  reference  to  typography  and  that 
is  the  fact  that  more  than  a  few  words  set  in  all  capital 
letters  are  very  hard  to  read.  With  some  capitals  occur 
awkward  breaks  between  letters  because  they  are  not  formed 
for  such  use.  Use  capitals  and  small  letters  ("caps  and 
lower  case"  the  printers  call  them)  to  secure  legibility  in 
headlines  and  subheads. 

Aside  from  the  points  we  wish  to  emphasize,  all  of  any 
advertisement  may  be  set  in  body  type,  and  in  closing  this 
chapter  which  has  necessarily  been  very  brief,  let  us  quote 
this  from  Sherbow's  "Making  Type  Work,"  a  most  thor- 
ough and  valuable  guide  to  good  typography : 

"Only  remember  what  EMPHASIS  is  for:  to  place  sig- 
nificant stress.  If  you  try  to  emphasize  everything,  you 
have  a  tiring  monotony  of  emphasis,  WHICH  IS  NO  EM- 
PHASIS AT  ALL.  As  the  typography  of  this  paragraph 
shows. ' ' 

Questions  for  Class  Work  or  Review  Purposes 

1.  Name  the  five  methods  of  getting  emphasis  in  direct  adver- 
tising. 

2.  What  must  all  typography  do? 

3.  If  possible,  visit  a  printing  office  and  become  familiar  in  a 
practical  way  with  definitions  in  Section  275. 


338         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

4.  In  what  ways  may  type  be  set?     Give  advantages  of  each 
method. 

5.  What  is  the  fundamental   principle   underlying  all  strong 
typographic  display? 

6.  How  may  it  be  secured? 

7.  Describe  ways  of  making  typography  attract  attention  and 
hold  that  attention. 

8.  Suppose  you  had  to  prepare  a  catalogue  for  a  mine  shovel, 
what  kind  of  typography  would  you  suggest?     For  pearls? 


CHAPTER  XIII 
PICTOKIAL  AND  COLOR  DISPLAY 

One  picture  is  worth  a  million  words — if  it  is  the  right  picture. 
— Arthur  Brisbane. 

289.  The  Appeal  of  the  Picture  Is  Universal. — Head- 
lines, subheads,  initials,  ornaments,  and  the  like  have  been 
treated  in  Chapter  XII,  and  we  will  now  take  up  the  re- 
maining forms  of  display  or  emphasis  in  direct  advertising ; 
namely,  pictorial  and  color  display.  The  appeal  of  the  pic- 
ture is  universal,  and  color  is  a  powerful  mechanical  device, 
as  will  be  set  forth  in  Sections  299  to  302,  inclusive. 

Reread  the  epigram  of  the  acknowledged  "wizard  of 
words"  at  the  chapter-head  to  get  a  clear  idea  of  the 
enormous  power  behind  the  right  picture, 

Marshall  Field  &  Company,  according  to  R.  A.  Brown, 
in  Printers'  Ink  Monthly,  December,  1919,  tabulated  the 
reasons  which  readers  of  the  Chicago  American  gave  why 
they  thought  Field 's  advertising  dominated,  as  follows : 

Illustration,  22  per  cent; 
Appeal  to  saving,  21  per  cent; 
General  appearance,  15  per  cent ; 
Impression  of  reliability,  14  per  cent; 
Authoritative  style,  12  per  cent; 
Timeliness,  7  per  cent ; 
Miscellaneous  reasons,  9  per  cent. 

Or,  totaling  illustration,  general  appearance,  and  impres- 
sion, we  have  51  per  cent.  What  was  true  in  the  case  of 
Field's  advertising  would  be  true  of  almost  any  form  of 
advertising;  even  the  mail-order  houses  find  pictures  are 
powerful  sales-makers. 

290.  Pictures  May  Be  Used  in  All  Physical  Forms. — 
Pictures,  or,  properly  speaking,  illustrations,  may  be  used 

339 


340 


EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


in  all  the  physical  forms  of  direct  advertising.  Fig.  82 
illustrates  how  pictorial  treatment  has  been  added  to  the 
letterhead.  C.  E.  McDaniel  and  A.  S.  Lee,  in  reporting  the 
results  of  this  addition  to  the  letterhead  in  System  for 
April,  1920,  state  that  while  the  plain  letterhead  only- 
brought  800  replies  from  3,000  mailed  out,  three  years 
later  the  letterhead  with  the  house  on  the  top  of  the  letter- 
head and  the  same  design  on  face — used  for  back — of  the 
envelope,  brought  2,200  replies.  The  other  illustrated  let- 
terhead brought  1,200  replies  from  a  list  of  2,000  dealers. 
The  same  list  was  used  in  each  test  mailing,  a  period  of 
more  than  a  year  intervening  between  tests.  The  same 
copy  was  used  in  each  test,  too. 
■   Fig.  83  indicates  the  use  of  a  pictorial  illustration  on  an 


Fig.  83. — A.  A  complete  printed  letter.  The  drawing  is  made 
by  the  pen-and-ink  process.  B.  The  personal  letter  is  typewritten, 
but  the  specimen  advertisement  is  printed.  The  heading  of  the  letter 
is  die-stamped    (embossed). 

ordinary  form  letter,   and  on  a   printed  letter.     Fig.   84 
illustrates  how  pictures  are  supplemented  by  a  mechanical 


,,„,        Sitnlna 
WhttU     ^„j 


[)A?ETORT 


PsRrBCTiON  Wood  Steam/no  p£. 
ftrkersburtf,  W,  Va. 

Jan  23rd,  ifla. 


Tbe  Art  Uatal  Coustr>,  Co., 
Jamestown, 

B.  y. 

0«atlemea; 

It  ^8  to  oar  mtsaladTantsge 
to  eliain&te  a  Xot  o£  unneoeseary 
corraBpoadence, 


Thereiore,  we'll  skip  right  to  the  point. 


»Te  written  yon  several  times  In  tlie  hope  o?  aonTlnoing 
yon  that  an  installation  ol  our  Wood  Steaming  Setorte,  wonld  mean  a 
wondertnl  saving  to  you  in  your   oending  Department,  In  the  many  savinge 
they  will  make  as  per  Lhe  Guarantee  herewith  -enoloaed,  and  we  wonld 
liice  very  muuh  to  nave  you  give  xhem  a  trial. 

We  have   Just  gotten  out  our  Hew  Catalog  whioh  deserioeg  and 
illnatrates  our  Improved  Process  Inlly.    (its  iree  lor  the  asking) 
and  we  want  to  send  you  this  Booklet   li  yon  care  to  loon  it  over,  as 
we  reel  that  you  would  lind  many  points  oi   interest   in  aame,  even  ii 
you  are  not  now  interested  on  same,  yoix  no  donot  will  be  sooner  or 
later. 

Aline  on  the  oottom  ox  this  letter,  or  on  the  snoloaed  oarl 
will  Dting  you  the  Cateiog. 

NO  RnoRT  Ca 


ND  OS  YOUR  CATALOG  WE  Will  LOOK  IT  OVEB. 


Fig.  84.— To  the  pictorial  appeal  in  this  letter  we 
have  added  the  straight  line  as  an  unusual  mechanical 
appeal.  This  makes  almost  too  much  display,  though 
part  was  in  a  light  color  in  the  original.  The  other 
illustration  represents  the  use  of  arrows  to  clarify  a 
mechanical  illustration. 

341 


342         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

method  of  emphasis — the  drawn  line.     This  latter  is  what 
might  well  be  termed  a  "stunt." 

The  use  of  pictorial  display  in  all  the  other  forms  of 
direct  advertising  is  usual,  as  is  indicated  by  the  specimens 
shown  throughout  this  work.  Occasionally,  too,  illustra- 
tions have  been  printed  throughout  the  reading  matter  in  a 
letter,  but  this  usually  distracts  the  eye  and  defeats  the  pur- 
pose. 

291.  Picture  Must  Be  the  Right  Picture. — Not  every 
picture,  or  any  picture,  will  do ;  it  must  be  the  right  picture, 
as  Brisbane  so  wisely  added.  All  too  often  a  "stock,"  or 
"syndicated,"  picture  is  used  merely  because  it  is  a  pic- 
ture, and  the  finished  piece  does  not  produce.  You  have  a 
picture  of  a  hand  picking  up  coins  and  the  phrase : 
'  *  There 's  Money  in  This  for  You. ' '  Thus  a  finely  prepared 
piece  of  copy  is  wasted  by  -a  generality  in  picture  form. 
The  same  idea  pertinently  tied  up  with  the  business  ad- 
vertised might  be  just  the  right  picture.  The  picture  has 
another  advantage  as  compared  with  type.  The  eye  can 
only  focus  on  one  thing  at  a  time  and  since  the  artist 
understands  composition  he  in  his  work  leads  the  eye  from 
place  to  place  in  a  natural  way.  What  is  to  be  the  right 
picture  is  something  which  can  only  be  decided  in  each  in- 
dividual case,  but  this  principle  should  help:  The  picture 
must  help  to  attract  relevantly  the  attention  of  the  prospect 
and  consciously  or  unconsciously  help  to  turn  that  atten- 
tion into  interest. 

This  bit  of  proof  reported  by  G.  A.  Nichols,  in  Printers' 
Ink  Monthly,  December,  1919,  shows  the  value  not  only  of 
pictures  but  of  more  pictures:  A  mail-order  house  using 
36  numbers  on  a  single  page  (illustrated)  as  against  26 
numbers  illustrated  with  larger  pictures  in  its  preceding 
catalogue  brought  double  the  returns.  Another  used  14 
illustrations  of  collars  as  compared  with  7  and  secured  25 
per  cent  increase  in  business.  Still  a  third  house  by  add- 
ing one  more  illustration  to  a  number  of  pages  which  car- 
ried only  two  illustrations  increased  sales  in  a  certain  line 
30  per  cent. 


PICTORIAL  AND  COLOR  DISPLAY 


343 


292.  Headlines,  Borders,  and  Similar  Devices  for  Em- 
phasis Often  the  Work  of  Artists. — The  work  of  the  artist 
and  that  of  the  compositor-printer  often  overlap.  This  is 
particularly  true  in  the  production  of  headlines  and  borders 
for  the  various  physical  forms  of  direct  advertising.  Fig. 
85  represents  an  entirely  hand-lettered  business  card,  to- 
gether with  the  same  card  as  entirely  set  up  from  type 
without  a  border.  These  illustrations,  by  courtesy  of  the 
National  Printer- Journalist,  which  might  almost  be  classed 
as  arguments  against  hand-lettering,  point  a  moral.  Use 
hand-lettering  with  discretion.    Do  not  try  to  hand-letter 


IfewName  •  New  Address  •  New  Phone 

James  Advertising  Agency 

JNCORPOHATED 

450  Fourth  Ave. 

NEW   VDRK. 

Phone   Madison  Square  22oo 


JAMES 

<i^dvertising  ^Agency 


4j0  rounh  Avrau 
New  Turk 


Fig.  85. — Compare  the  all  hand-lettered  card  on  the  left  with  the 
dignified  card  set  wholly  in  type  on  the  right,  to  prove  that  one  may 
get  too  much  of  even  a  good  thing. 

an  entire  advertisement ;  it  would  be  tiresome.  Use  hand- 
lettering  for  headlines,  brand  names,  firm  names,  and  the 
like.  W.  Livingston  Larned,  a  famous  artist,  gives  this 
rule :  ' '  Use  type  if  the  artist 's  endeavor  fails  to  incor- 
porate charm,  character,  animation — pictorial  value.  If 
there  are  more  than  fifty  words,  straight  type  is  advisable. ' ' 
While  Gilbert  P.  Farrar,  a  typography  expert,  in  his 
book,  "Typography  of  Advertisements  That  Pay,"  says 
this :  ' '  Many  all-type  advertisements  would  be  materially 
improved  by  the  use  of  several  'spots'  of  hand-lettering. 
And  there  are  many  advertisements  whose  message  is  ma- 
terially weakened  by  the  use  of  too  much  hand-lettering*." 

Fig.  86  C  shows  good  use  of  hand-lettering.  The  one  word 
"kimonos"  as  it  has  been  hand-lettered  would  "put  the 
idea  over." 

Frederic  W-.  Goudy,  the  type  designer,  in  Printers'  Ink 
Monthly  for  September,  1920,  answers  the  question  now 


w^ 


thtf  write  three  leiten  to  ucli  nime  this  yeu. 
Tlut  Uit  30,000  more  letieti  to  the  figurti. 
brioEing  ihe  total  lu  a  rough  100,000. 

We  WHime  that  the  kitcrheadi  are  of  24- 
poiiD<!  atock  (the  weight  of  the  a^eet  on  which 
(hb  is  printed)^  The  envelope  uwd  rtquiie*  prac- 
ticall)'  ai  much  paper  at  the  letters,  couatuig  the 
aeceiaary  waaic  io  cutting,  and  in  addition  to  thia 
we  hate  one  or  more — quite  often  leveral — car- 
bon copicf,  u  well  aa  extra  copiea  made  at  the 
time  of  original  writing.  The  carbona  are  made 
OB  lighter  piper  to  be  lure,  but  we  feel  that  we 
are  coucrrative  when  we  multiply  the  original 


STATLER 
$ERyiCE 
CODES 


With  which  Is  Incorporated 
"Statler'j  Talk  to  His  Patrons" 


B 


figure  by  ]  and  find  that  600,000  ihceta  of  paper 
arc  med  in  correipondeace  alone. 

Since  it  taket  approximately  >  cord  of  wood  10 
make  about  1 ,000  pound*  of  wood'palp,aDd  ti 
■bout  7;,ooo  finiihed  ktterheada  can  be  gotten 
out  of  that  rtduced  cord,  tbca  Alfred's  company 
will  UK  thii  year  about  jH  cordi  of  wood  for 
their  corropoudence. 

WHERE     OUR     rORIITS 

We  can  otimate,  roughly,  190  trcea  on  as 

acre  of  ground  and  I J  cords  of  rirgin  wood  to 
ihc  acre.  That  tncani  that  their  coneipondence 
hai  cost  about  g?  trees  WITHOUT  REASON. 
For  they  could  have  used  a  rag-content  paper 


Fig.  86. — A.  How  the  artist  has  inclosed  the 
center-page  spread  of  a  small  advertising  booklet 
by  drawing  a  border.  B.  Statler  gets  a  contin- 
uous appeal  through  using  the  same  standard- 
ized border  design  on  all  his  advertising  (book- 
lets, magazine  advertisements,  etc.).  C.  Here 
the  one  word  "Kimonos,"  even  without  the  sug- 
gestion of  the  Japanese  girl,  would  have  "put 
over"  the  idea.  Type  could  not  do  this. 
3-44 


PICTORIAL  AND  COLOR  DISPLAY  345 

probably  in  the  reader's  mind:  "Why  use  hand-lettering 
at  all?"  in  this  wise:  ''Hand-lettering  is  demanded  in 
places  where  the  artistic  sense  is  better  served  by  it  than 
is  generally  possible  by  the  use  of  set  and  fixed  type  forms. 
When  harmonious  with  the  type  it  is  intended  to  accom- 
pany, it  becomes  a  decorative  element.  The  artist  has  the 
opportunity  of  shaping  his  letters  with  more  freedom,  of 
placing  them  where  he  likes  and  spacing  them  more  exactly 
than  type  allows." 

293.  Borders,  Arrows,  and  the  Like  Aid  the  Reader. — 
On  Fig,  84  there  is  reproduced,  greatly  reduced,  an  ar- 
rowed illustration  of  an  automobile  chassis.  These  arrows 
are  the  work  of  the  artist  and  simplify  the  illustration  con- 
siderably. The  reader's  eye  is  often  led  from  the  offer  to 
the  postal  card,  or  other  inquiry  form,  by  means  of  a  hand- 
drawn  arrow,  or  other  similar  display  device.  An  exam- 
ination of  the  illustrations  in  this  book  will  show  how 
several  pieces  have  been  improved  by  use  of  arrows  or  sim- 
ilar leaders.     Fig.  86  shows  one  use  of  the  arrow. 

Fig.  86  A  illustrates  how  a  border  was  used  in  the  center 
spread  of  a  small  booklet.  Often  each  page  of  a  booklet  or 
catalogue  is  inclosed  within  a  border,  and  frequently  this 
is  hand-drawn  by  the  artist.  Some  borders  are  purely  dec- 
orative or  ornamental  and  others  are  suggestive  either  of 
the  product,  its  uses,  or  to  help  consciously  or  subcon- 
sciously "to  put  over"  an  idea  or  thought  to  the  reader. 
Fig.  86  B,  for  example,  shows  the  front  cover  of  a  small 
piece  of  direct  advertising  issued  by  the  Statler  hotels.  The 
border  design  used  on  it  is  followed  in  all  these  hotels' 
direct  and  other  forms  of  advertising. 

At  Christmas  season  a  piece  of  direct  advertising  which 
of  itself  has  little  to  do  with  the  season  may  carry  by  a 
holiday  border  design  a  suggestion  of  the  Christmas  spirit. 

In  planning  a  series  of  direct  pieces  the  border  may  be 
the  only  method  of  tying  the  individual  pieces  to  the  gen- 
eral series. 

294.  Other  Uses  for  Art  Work. — Other  things  which  the 
artist   can   do   to   help   direct-advertising   producers,    and 


346         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

which  are  included  under  the  general  term  "art  work," 
are  the  retouching  of  photographs,  sketching  of  machines 
from  blue-prints  when  machines  have  not  yet  been  built, 
and  the  like.  Sometimes  the  entire  background  of  a  ma- 
chine— say  a  farm  tractor — will  be  "touched  out"  by  the 
artist  and  the  machine  reproduced  as  standing  alone.  Or 
supposing  the  photograph  of  a  tractor  is  taken  on  level 
ground,  a  muddy  field  may  be  "air-brushed"  in  under  the 
tractor.  Aside  from  cover  designs,  hand-lettering,  borders, 
and  retouching,  the  artist's  aid  will  be  found  invaluable 
in  making  effective  layouts,  decorative  treatments,  and  the 
like. 

295.  Many  Methods  of  Producing  Artistic  Illustrations. 
— There  are  many  different  methods  of  producing  artistic 
illustrations,  and  new  processes  or  combinations  of  old 
processes  come  up  almost  daily. 

Perhaps  the  simplest  form  of  illustration  is  the  photo- 
graphic treatment,  such  as  is  used  to  produce  the  cover  de- 
signs of  bulletins  shown  on  Fig.  54  as  well  as  to  reproduce 
the  entire  piece  in  Fig.  87  H. 

Pen  and  ink,  one  of  the  more  economical  forms  unless  a 
great  deal  of  detail  is  worked  in  by  the  artist,  is  often 
used.     Figs.  83  and  86  A  show  examples  of  this  style. 

Next  comes  the  use  of  the  pencil  illustration,  and  in  Fig. 
88  we  find  an  example  of  a  pencil-drawn  design.  Pencil 
illustrations  are  admirable  for  buildings,  layouts,  etc. 

Charcoal  drawings  are  made  by  use  of  charcoal  on  a 
paper  with  a  rough  surface.  The  treatment  is  sometimes 
combined  with  pen-and-ink  work  and  dry-point  execution. 
The  plain  charcoal  drawing  is  effective  where  impression 
is  desired  rather  than  a  showing  of  sharp  technical  details. 
Combined  with  pen-and-ink  work  or  with  dry-point  treat- 
ment, it  is  possible  to  obtain  this  impressionistic  effect  and 
yet  secure  the  sharper  details  that  characterize  both  plain 
photographic  reproductions  and  line  drawings  (see  Sec- 
tion 304). 

Closely  approximating  pencil  and  charcoal  treatments 
are  the  results  secured  through  the  use  of  crayons,  includ- 


it.'o-- 


;(h^' 


mNiA 


£ 


1920  SEPTEMBER  i«o 

sex    MON    tW,    »•»>    THU     FRI     S*T 

i 

h^'i^  12  3   4 

i 

5   6   7   8  9  10  11 

1 

12  13  14  15  16  17  18 

i' 

19  20  2122  23  24  25    fe 

26  27  28  29  30  Wi  '.^. 

f  IN  EST- 


'>, 


^^i^S;^ 


V^--.J 


ALMONDS^ 


J*. 


C/^UFOR.MI.^      ^L/AOAID      GR-0\\/ERS      EXCHANGE    tci 


From  Victor  Talking  Machine  Co. 

Camden,  N    J  .  USA. 


To        urc.    Robert  E,    Ramsay, 

21 D7   Uorthamptou   St., 
Holyoke,   Kais. 


Fig.  87. — ^Top.  An  example  of  the  use  of  the  photofi;raphic  ap- 
peal.^ This  entire  piece  a  postal  card  reproduced  from  a  photo- 
graphic negative  upon  sensitized  paper.  Eelow.  Specimens  of 
mailing  stickers.  Note  the  parcel  post  time-saving  spaces  on  the 
A'ictor  slip.     See  also  Fig.  4o. 


^-••^i  o 


Fip.  88. — A  pencil  drawinj^  by  Vernon  Howe  liailev.  From 
"Discovering'  New  l'"acts  .Miout  Pajn'r,"  a  ])ortfolio  issued  by  the 
American  Writing  Paper  Company,  Holyoke,  Mass. 


PICTORIAL  AND  COLOR  DISPLAY 


347 


ing  pastels,  lithographic  pencils,  and  similar  mediums.  Il- 
lustrations handled  in  this  manner  are  particularly  effective 
where  sketchy,  at  the  same  time  striking,  results  are  de- 
sired.    Many  broadside-posters  are  developed  by  this  means. 


^^^ 


lJ(^^ 


—...tii-^aL-*- 


-J^' 


7'H,lM 


Fig.  89. — A  "rough  sketch"  developed  from  tlie  report  sent  to 
a  firm  of  artists.  What  the  artist  had  to  work  from  will  be  found 
in  Fig.  90A. 


348         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

The  use  of  the  ross-board  upon  which  to  draw  originals 
also  produces  many  striking  effects. 

"Wash  drawings  are  what  might  be  termed  for  the  layman 
"imitation"  photographic  illustrations,  for  the  artist  has, 
by  use  of  air  brush  and  brush,  simulated  photographic 
effects  without  photographic  exactitude.  Many  machines 
and  other  devices  are  built  up  by  the  artist  through  wash 
drawings. 

By  use  of  Ben  Day,  which  will  be  described  in  Section 
310,  pleasing  and  comparatively  inexpensive  effects  may 
be  produced. 

Lately  there  has  been  manifested  a  tendency  to  secure 
notably  striking  results  by  combining  different  artistic 
treatments.     These  are  laiown  as  "combinations." 

296.  How  Illustration  Ideas  Are  Handled. — Fig.  90  A 
shows  how  one  firm  sent  an  idea  for  an  illustrated  adver- 
tisement to  a  firm  of  artists.  Fig.  89  shows  a  pencil  sketch 
of  the  "layout"  as  the  artist  conceived  it  from  the  sales- 
man's repor.t.  Fig.  90  B  shows  the  idea  as  "dressed  up" 
for  submission  to  the  advertiser  with  the  wash  drawing  of 
the  ship,  hand-lettering  of  the  headline  and  signature. 
Fig.  90  C  illustrates  the  same  sketch  as  returned  to  the  artist 
with  corrections  suggested  by  the  advertiser  marked  upon 
it.  Fig.  90  D  shows  the  completed  advertisement  with  copy 
set  up  in  type  and  inserted.  These  several  pictures,  re- 
produced through  the  courtesy  of  the  Associated  Artists 
of  Philadelphia,  portray  graphically  how  intelligent  co- 
operation of  the  advertiser  with  the  artist  produces  a 
pleasing  combination. 

297.  Rules  for  Ordering  Illustrations. — There  is  prob- 
ably more  direct  advertising  ordered  for  the  sale  of  some 
form  of  machinery  or  equipment  than  for  any  other  prod- 
uct or  service.  No  matter  how  thoroughly  the  customer 
himself,  or  his  advertising  man,  may  understand  the  work- 
ings of  a  device,  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  put  that  under- 
standing into  words  so  clear  that  the  artist  who  perhaps  has 
never  seen  this  particular  machine  at  all  will  understand 
the  minute  details  thoroughly  enough  to  reproduce  them 


FINANCEk       '  -T       ibccaasaotj       ^^55*5^J 

n     'I finance!'!^/'     i  / 


,  iN'TF.R«J.\T10,VAI 
CORPOIIATIOM 


ii   .yf-    / 


INTERNATIONAI 
UNAMCt 

corporation: 


Fig.  90. — A.  The  written  description  as  submitted  by  the  artists' 
saiosnian.  (See  Fig.  S!)  for  tlie  fii'st  rough  sketcli.)  F>.  The  layout 
of  the  idea  goes  to  the  el  lent  for  approval.  C.  It  is  returned  to  be 
trimmed  and  dressed  for  jjulilicaiion.     1).  The  oom])leted  design. 


PICTORIAL  AND  COLOR  DISPLAY 


34& 


Derfectly — wheel,  cam  and  shaft — in  paint,  for  example. 
We  know  of  many  cases  where  hundreds  of  dollars  have 
been  wasted  on  a  single  piece  of  direct  advertising  by  lail- 
ure  to  give  the  artist  the  necessary  information.  In  fact, 
there  is  only  one  method  of  giving  instructions  so  that  any 
mechanical  man  can  be  absolutely  understood  and  that  is 


**i.«_^ 


k  Stop. 

Co<X, 


Fig.  91. — In  ordering  wash  drawings,  especially  of  me- 
chanical subjects,  the  simplest  and  roughest  sketches,  with 
the  details  plainly  marked,  are  a  great  help  to  the  artist. 

by  using  rough  pencil  sketches  completely  labeled.  "No 
matter  how  rough  and  primitive  they  may  be,  they  will 
convey  principles  and  details  more  quickly  than  any  amount 
of  explanation, ' '  writes  one  firm  of  artists.  This  firm  sug- 
gests rough  sketches  such  as  Fig.  91  (courtesy  Indian- 
apolis Engraving  Company)  even  where  blue-prints  are 
available.  These  simple  sketches  will  save  money  and  time, 
especially  when  there  are  complex  systems  of  piping  or 
wiring,  and  will  be  valuable  even  when  photographs  are 
available. 

298.  A  Principle  for  Using  Various  Methods  of  Illus- 
trating.— No  general  rule  can  be  laid  down  as  to  which  of 
the  methods  described  in  Section  295  should  be  used  for  the 
illustration  of  any  form  of  direct  advertising,  but  a  good 
safe  principle  can  be  suggested.  That  principle  is  to  use 
some  form  of  illustration  other  than  that  used  by  other 
firms,  competitive  or  otherwise,  when  appealing  to  a  similar 


350         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

list.  For  example,  if  you  are  distributing  your  pieces  to 
school  teachers,  and  some  firm  has  frequently  used  pen- 
and-ink  sketches  so  as  to  have;  preempted  them  to  their  use 
almost,  while  another  firm  is  using  photographic  illustra- 
tions, try  pencil,  crayon,  oil,  or  some  other  method  of  illus- 
trating your  pieces  sent  to  that  list. 

You  are  dressing  up  a  printed  sales-maker  when  you 
design  a  piece  of  direct  advertising,  so  do  not  consciously 
use  the  same  cut  and  style  of  clothes  worn  by  others  in 
the  same  field. 

In  this  connection  see  Fig.  92,  illustrating  how  to  get 
*'differentness"  in  art  work,  published  here  in  conjunc- 
tion with  engraving  processes. 

299.  Color  a  Dominating  Display  Factor. — Nature  is 
lavish  with  her  colors  and  man  responds  more  readily  and 
quickly  to  color  than  to  any  other  display  factor.  Fig.  41 
illustrates  how  a  second  color  may  be  used  advantageously 
even  in  a  form  letter.  The  wording  "  Save-0-says, "  etc., 
shown  on  the  left  side,  is  all  in  red,  the  rest  in  black.  A 
Chicago  mail-order  house  issued  two  editions  of  its  cata- 
logue, both  identical  as  to  text  matter  and  illustration,  ex- 
cept that  in  one  edition  every  illustration  of  the  firm 's  wares 
was  printed  in  natural  colors  while  in  the  other  the  illustra- 
tions were  printed  in  one  color,  black.  These  two  books 
were  mailed  in  equal  numbers  to  different  lists  though  to 
the  same*  class  of  buyers.  The  edition  with  the  colored 
illustrations  sold  fifteen  times  as  much  merchandise  as  the 
one  printed  in  black  only. 

An  author  in  a  recent  issue  of  Postage  said  he  found 
that  by  using  an  extra  color  on  the  wrappers  of  his  mailing 
pieces  he  could  produce  as  many  replies  from  one-cent  post- 
age    as     from     two-cent     postage     and     the     ordinary 
'outside." 

W.  F.  Therkildson,  of  W.  Atlee  Burpee  Company,  re- 
ported in  Printers'  Ink,  February  7,  1918,  that  whereas  a 
colored  page  showing  a  new  form  of  gladioli  almost  cleaned 
out  their  stock,  the  following  year  a  full  page  in  black  and 
white  produced  50  per  cent  fewer  sales. 


PICTORIAL  AND  COLOR  DISPLAY 


351 


300.  Color  May  Be  Secured  by  Use  of  Paper  or  Ink  or 
Both. — The  subject  under  discussion  has  not  only  in  mind 
the  color  secured  by  use  of  different  hued  inks  but  also  that 
obtained  by  changing  the  colors  of  the  paper  stocks  used. 
It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  color  of  the  ink  and  the 


Illastrmtlocs 
in  Colon 

Inserts  and  Good 
Ptintlns  Conditions 

Color  Process  or  One 
Halftone  and  Ben  Days 

Posters  and 

Cover  and  Speedy 
Printlns  Conditions 

One  Halftone  Ben  Days 
and  Tooling 

'DBAWINQ\ 

Styles 

orOIU     I 

^ainting/ 

Idechanlcsl 
FInUh 

Technical  Publications  and  CatoloKS 
for  Close  Examination 

Halftone,  Careful 
Tooling  and  Vignetting 

Cumblnation 
Line  and  Tone 

Brings  out  Subject  to  be  Sold  in  Tone 

■nd  the  Atmosphere  in  Line.  Prints 

well  under  all  Conditions 

Ben  Day  and  Cut  Oot 

Free  sold  with 
the  Form 

Generally  requires  Good 
Printing  Conditions 

Either  Zinc  or 
Copper  Etching 

Shsdowflrraph 

Cover  on  Heavy  Stock 
or  Newspaper  Printing 

Z'dc  Etching  with 
Screen  Stripped 
Over  Negative 

PEN       \ 

Woodcut 
Effect 

Any  Printing  Conditions 
If  kept  open  enough 

Copper  or  Zinc 
carefully  Etched 

French 
Outline 

EspecUlly  Adapted  to 

Feminine  Publications 

and  Printing 

Copper  or  Zinc. 
Can  use  a  little  Ben  Day 

Etching 
Style 

Adaptable  for  fine 
Printing  Conditions 

Preferably  Copper 
Zinc  will  get  by 

Crayon  or 
Pencil 

rXEXTURE^ 

\ 

Any  Publication  if 
properly  Etched 

Highlight  Halftone  or 
careful  Copper  or  Zinc 
straight  Line  Etching 

s 

Charcoal 

/ 

^   "N. 

Photoarraphic 
Retoucfalnff 

Catolog  and  fine  Printing 

\/ 

'mechan-V^^ 

\, 

Halftone  or  Duotone 

iCAL       I 

X 

s 

Mechanical 
Wash-drawins 

/\ 

Can  be  especially  treated 

for  Publications 

and  tpeedy  Printing 

y 

Fig.  92. — lA  handy  chart  which  will  enable  you  readily  to  secure 
"differentness"  in  art  work.     Read  the  text  for  details. 


352         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

color  of  the  paper  must  harmonize  to.  produce  a  pleasing 
effect  upon  the  eye  of  the  reader. 

Before  us  is  a  striking  broadside  of  a  motor  ear — an  effect 
of  white  on  black,  which  has  been  secured  by  making  what 
is  known  as  a  reverse  zinc  etching  (see  Section  306)  and 
printing  this  in  black  on  the  white  paper.  Every  bit  of  the 
paper  is  covered  with  black  excepting  the  car  itself,  a  few 
shadows  cast  by  it  which  are  gray,  and  the  lettering  of  the 
advertisement.  This  is  the  simple  method  of  getting  a  two- 
color  effect  with  only  one  printing. 

By  using  a  light-brown  stock*  and  printing  on  it  with  a 
dark-brown  ink,  a  very  beautiful  two-color  printing  can 
be  secured. 

Paper  and  ink  are  both  factors  in  getting  display  by 
means  of  color.  Some  one  has  well  suggested  that  * '  Paper 
is  the  body — ink  the  voice — ^your  voice. ' ' 

For  our  purposes  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  delve  deeply 
nto  the  study  of  color  and  all. its  phases.  The  primary 
colors,  in  producing  printed  direct  advertising,  are :  Red, 
yellow,  and  blue.  The  secondary  colors :  Orange,  green, 
and  violet.  The  orange  comes  from  red  combined  with 
yellow;  the  green  from  yellow  combined  with  blue;  and 
violet  from  blue  combined  with  red.  The  printer  adds 
black  to  darken  any  of  these  colors  and  produces  innumer- 
able shades.  To  get  the  lighter  tints  a  light,  even  a  white, 
ink  may  be  added. 

Complementary  colors,  as  we  all  know,  are  two  colors 
each  of  which  when  placed  side  by  side  appears  at  its  great- 
est brilliancy.  The  three  major  complementary  pairs  are : 
Red  and  green;  yellow  and  violet;  and  blue  and  orange. 
The  five  minor  complementary  pairs  are :  Red  and 
bluish-green;  orange  and  blue;  yellow  and  violet  blue; 
greenish-yellow  and  violet;  and  green  and  reddish- 
violet. 

A  large  number  of  other  complementary  colors  may  be 
worked  out,  of  course,  but  unless-  separated  by  either  black 


PICTORIAL  AND  COLOR  DISPLAY  353 

or  white — neutral   colors — the  following  colors,   when 

PLACED    SIDE    BY     SIDE,     FORM     UNPLEASANT     COMBINATIONS. 

They  ''fight"  one  another  and  become  darker  or  lighter 
as  indicated  below; 

DARKER  LIGHTER 

Purple  Red 

Violet  Purple 

Red-blue  Blue 

Blue  Green-blue 

Green-blue       t  Green 

Green  Yellowish-green 

Yellowisb-green  Greenish-yellow 

Orange-yellow  Yellow 

Orange  Orange-yellow 

Orange-red  Orange 

Red  Orange-red 

For  the  effect  of  various  colors  of  inks  upon  various 
colors  of  paper,  see  Section  324. 

It  should  be  emphasized  that  a  good  piece  of  color  work 
in  direct  advertising  does  not  necessarily  require  the  use 
of  all  the  colors  in  the  spectrum.  Much  excellent  color 
work  is  composed  of  different  shades  or  tints  of  the  same 
color  or  closely  related  colors. 

Before  us,  for  instance,  lie  several  pieces  of  direct-adver- 
tising matter  gotten  out  by  a  large  national  advertiser. 
The  covers  of  the  booklets  are  in  various  colors.  One  im- 
portant booklet  on,  let  us  say,  shoes,  has  a  mottled  gray 
color — yet  this  company  has  invested  several  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  in  one  national  weekly  confining  its  efforts  en- 
tirely to  two-color  advertisements,  one  color  of  which  was  a 
deep  tan.  Why  not  use  the  same  deep  tan  on  all  its  direct  ad- 
vertising to  cash  in  on  its  magazine-advertising  investment  ? 

Sounds  simple  and  obvious,  doesn't  it?  But  it  is  over- 
looked more  times  than  it  is  followed.  The  color  may  be 
secured  either  by  use  of  paper,  or  a  solid  tint  block  (a  zinc 
etching  covering  the  entire  surface  in  one  shade  or  tint) 
might  be  run  on  plain  paper  in  order  to  get  the  company's 
distinctive  color  scheme  clearly  before  the  prospect. 


354         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Innumerable  color  charts  are  upon  the  market,  but  the 
one  illustrated  in  Fig.  93  through  the  courtesy  of  The  Lay- 
man Printer  is  at  once  comprehensive  and  simple.  In  this 
connection  see  also  Section  324. 

301.  Color  Must  Be  Used  with  Discretion. — Just  as  all 
emphasis  is  no  emphasis,  so  all  color  is  no  color.  A  too 
lavish  use  of  color  makes  it  ineffective.  One  artist  has  said 
he  believes  that  one  page  in  sixteen  in  colors  is  about  the 


J 

J 

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J 

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On 

Q 

G 

P 

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8 

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8 

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o.~i 

B 

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c 

P 

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F 

8 

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F 

8 

P 

F 

B 

B 

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H 

H 

•— 

8 

8 

B 

B 

G 

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F 

F 

S 

8 

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8 

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1 

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8 

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H 

1 

H.U..M 

B 

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8 

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H 

.                              1 

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B 

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8 

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8 

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Judging  from      i 

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F 

F 

P 

8 

G 

G 

8 

8 

P 

P 

B 

8 

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8 

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H 

H 

some  of  the  exam-      1 

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8 

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pies  we  see,  many  op-      1 

F 

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tical   advertisers   need    ed-      1 

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ucation    along    lines    of    color      1 

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8 

8 

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G 

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H 

combinations.       Before    you    print      1 

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S 

8 

8 

B 

G 

8 

G 

G 

B 

B 

8 

8 

your   next   booklet  br  circular,  consult      1 

M,nl. 

F 

F 

P 

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C 

G 

P 

P 

B 

H 

H 

this  cliart.                                                                  1 

•oho... 

8 

F 

B 

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8 

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To  dttfrninr  v«bat  rolor  iok  to  um  with  a  given  colored 
stock,  find  the  ttock  color  (or  the  oearcat  color  to  it)  on 
cither  cl««»ifRuition  and  follow  until  the  propcrcombinalion 
is  found.     If  a  harmonioua  combtnatioo  it  desired,  the  ink 
to  be  used  will  be  found  in  column  indicated  by  tbe  letter 
"H."     If  a  strong  contrast  is  wanted  use  ink  in  column  "S" 
Tbe  key  to  other  combtnationa  is  as  follow ; 

C=Cood  combination             B^Bad  combidation 
F=Fair  eombinalion^             H=Uarmony 
P=Poor  combination             S=Scn>ng  contrast 

Ob. 

8 

8 

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M.r_ 

H 

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__ 





___ 

__ 

-J 

Fig.  93. 

right  proportion  for  a  catalogue.  This  is,  of  course,  an 
opinion.  Gilbert  P.  Farrar,  in  Printers'  Ink,  May  22, 
1913,  wrote:  "The  best  pieces  I  ever  came  across  were 
printed  in  only  two  colors,  while  some  of  the  least  effective 
and  most  confusing  mail  pieces  that  came  under  my  ob- 
servation had  dollars  upon  dollars  of  art  work,  cuts  and 
colors  being  smeared  on  every  spare  inch  of  space." 

Henry  Hale,  Jr.,  of  the  Ethridge  Association  of  Artists, 
New  York,  in  speaking  before  the  Cleveland  Direct  Mail 
Advertising  Convention,  1919,  told  of  a  certain  big  florist 
who  had  an  over-supply  of  bulbs  and  got  up  a  finely  illus- 
trated booklet  in  several  colors,  but  it  did  not  sell  the  bulbs. 


PICTORIAL  AND  COLOR  DISPLAY 


355 


Next  year  a  simple  black  and  white  piece  sold  them  in 
Bhort  order.  The  reason  given  was  that  the  first  piece 
"over-sold"  the  bulbs,  made  the  prospect  feel  that  they 
were  too  expensive,  while  the  second  folder  sold  them  be- 
cause it  was  simple  and  suggested  inexpensiveness. 

Some  uses  for  a  second  color  in  direct  advertising  are: 
(1)  To  show  the  specific  uses  of  a  product,  or  to  emphasize 
some  particular  point;  (2)  to  reproduce  blue-prints  to  ap- 
peal to  architects,  engineers,  and  the  like;  (3)  to  introduce 
tint  blocks  behind  machinery  and  individual  pieces  to  em- 
phasize quality;  (4)  to  provide  eye-catching  color  spots; 
(5)  to  show  products  in  almost  natural  colors,  as  ginghams, 
linoleums,  and  so  on;  (6)  to  feature  prices,  and  (7)  to 
"dress-up"  a  catalogue  or  booklet  by  means  of  light  tint 
borders. 

302.  Psychology  of  Colors. — ^William  N.  Bayless,  in 
Mailhag,  January,  1918,  told  of  certain  psychological  tests 
made  on  human  subjects  regarding  colors  and  submitted 
the  following  table  indicating  preferences  of  men  and 
women : 

Wissler's  Table 


MEN 

WOMEN 

Color 

Preference     Prejudice 

Preference     Prejudice 

Red 

22 

7 

42 

8 

Orange  . . 

2 

25 

8 

31 

Yellow    .. 

2 

.32 

5 

8 

Green   . . . 

2 

15 

9 

21 

Brown    . . 

42 

12 

9 

23 

Violet   ... 

19 

8 

19 

9 

White  ... 

3 

1 

8 

0 

He  also  referred  to  the  Allen  test  on  savages,  the  Bald- 
win test  on  babies,  and  the  Winch  test  on  school  children,  in 
a  measure  corroborating  the  test  quoted  above. 

While  harmony  of  color  is  important,  even  more  neces- 
sary are  data  about  the  appeal  of  color.  The  following  is 
copyrighted  by  Business  Bourse,  International.  New  York, 
and  reproduced  in  this  connection  by  permission. 

Difference  in  education,  temperament,  vocation,  and  sex 


356         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

affects  difference  in  appeals,  of  course,  but  the  following 
psychological  appeals  of  various  colors,  the  result  of  careful 
studies,  will  be  found  helpful: 

Bright  Red  or  Crimson. — Heat,  Fieriness,  Tumult,  Excite- 
ment, Boldness,  Danger,  Vividness,  Virility,  Strength, 
Vibrance. 

Dark  Red,  Terra  Cotta,  or  Maroon. — Pleasurable  Warmth, 
Richness,  Quiet,  Luxury,  Solidity,  Firmness,  Sedateness. 

Light  Red  or  Pink. — Daintiness,  Delicacy,  Freshness,  Health, 
Softness,  Festivity,  Fragrance,  Coquettishness,  Tenderness, 
Weakness. 

Dark  Blue. — Coldness,  Distance,  Haughtiness,  Infinity,  Depth, 
Mystery,  Nobility,  Morality,  Intellectuality,  Space;  Heav- 
enly, Formal,  Unsympathetic,  Celestial,  Beautiful. 

Light  Blue. — Innocence,  Daintiness,  Coolness,  Dependence, 
Tenderness,   Fragility;   Emotional,   Cheery,   Childish. 

Dark  Green. — Restfulness,  Out-of-doorness,  Coolness;  Re- 
laxing; Spaciousness,  Airiness,  Comfort,  Liveliness. 

Vivid  Green. — Repellent;  Intensity,  Vindictiveness ;  Poison- 
ous, Venomous,  Envious;  Jealousy,  Hatred,  Sickness. 

Light  Green. — Cool,  Appetizing,   Tender;   Freshness. 

Orange. — Lusciousness,  Succulence,  Warmth,  Cheeriness, 
Stimulation,  Optimism;  Appetizing,  Cooling. 

Yellow. — Heat,  Light,  Aggressiveness,  Power,  Intensity, 
Stridence;  Noisome,  Cheap,  Tainted,  Sickly,  Active,  Con- 
fusing, Vicious,  Glittering. 

Pale  Yellow  or  Lemon. — Cool,  Acid,  Refreshing,  Appetizing, 
Restful,  Cheering. 

Violet. — Fragrance,  Fragility,  Tenderness,  Richness,  Taste- 
fulness,  Softness,  Refinement,  Shadow,  Sorrow,  Seclusion. 

Purple. — Opulence,  Royalty,  Exclusiveness,  Stateliness,  Un- 
healthfulness,  Unapproachability,  Decay. 

Brown. — Utility,  Soberness,  Sturdiness,  Solidity;  Appetizing, 
Mellow,  Aged,  Weather-beaten,  Wholesome,  Tasteful. 

Black. — Darkness,  Sombemess,  Heaviness,  Contrast,  Strength, 
Intensity,  Bigness,  Mystery,  Apprehension,  Villainy, 
Mourning,  Curiosity,  Calamity,  Fatality. 

Gray. — Quietness,  Mildness,  Sedateness,  Primness,  Neutral- 
ity, Age,  Softness,  Serviceableness,  Dependability. 

White. — Cleanliness,  Purity,  Space,  Coldness,  Negativeness, 
Feebleness,  Rigidity,  Emptiness,  Superiority. 


PICTORIAL  AND  COLOR  DISPLAY  357 

As  Professor  Frank  Alvah  Parsons  so  well  says  in  ''Prin- 
ciples of  Advertising  Arrangement,"  "What  would  you 
think  of  'A  Trip  to  Alaska'  advertisement  with  orange, 
red,  or  yellow  for  a  background?  "Would  you  think  of 
advertising  'A  Trip  to  the  Equator'  in  the  same  colors  as 
*A  Trip  to  Alaska'?" 

Analyze  the  selling  problem;  the  audience;  their  reac- 
tions to  color,  and  then  use  the  color  or  colors  most  likely 
to  strike  the  "happy  medium"  without  losing  any  effects. 

Questions  for  Class  Work  or  Keview  Purposes 

1.  Describe  in  your  own  words  the  power  of  the  picture. 

2.  Select  some  piece  of  direct  advertising  where  the  wrong  pic- 
ture has  been  used;  the  right  one. 

3.  How  can  the  artist  help  out  in  planning  effective  direct 
advertising  ? 

4.  Take  some  line  of  business  with  which  you  are  familiar 
and  suggest  some  style  of  illustrative  treatment  that  would  not  be 
hackneyed  in  that  field. 

5.  Why  is  color  such  a  dominating  factor  in  display  ? 

6.  Make  some  suggestions  as  to  effective  colors,  regardless  how 
secured,  to'  advertise  funeral  parlors.  Restaurant.  Toilet  wa- 
ter.    Talcum  powder  for  babies. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  ENGRAVINGS  AND  ELECTROTYPES 

He  who  calleth  a  spade  a  spade  lives  in  the  riches  of  his  in- 
telligence, hut  he  whs  calleth  a  spade  a  pick,  it  were  better  he 
be  cursed  into  everlasting  silence. — Author  Unknown. 

303.  Mechanically  Reproducing  the  Picture. — Our  pre- 
ceding chapter  was  devoted  to  the  illustration,  or  the  pic- 
ture. Yet  the  picture  cannot  be  printed  from  type.  When 
it  becomes  necessary  to  use  an  illustration,  some  kind  of  a 
plate  must  be  made  so  that  when  it  is  inked  we  get  the 
picture  upon  the  paper.  This  chapter  is  therefore  very 
closely  tied  up  with  the  one  which  has  gone  before  and  with 
the  one  which  is  to  follow  on  paper  stocks. 

Let  us  first  explain  in  layman's  language  how  a  plate 
transfers  a  picture  to  the  paper.  Suppose  you  took  a 
square  block  of  metal  and  inked  it  on  your  rubber-stamp 
pad  and  then  impressed  it  upon  paper.  You  would  get  a 
plain  red  or  blue  square — depending  upon  the  color  of  the 
stamp  pad.  Suppose,  however,  parts  of  that  solid  square 
are  cut  down  so  that  the  ink  of  the  stamp  pad  will  not  reach 
those  parts,  then  when  impressed  upon  the  paper  part  of 
the  square  would  be  red  or  blue  and  the  rest  white — if 
imprinted  upon  white  paper.  This  illustrates  the  general 
principle  of  making  engraving  plates — dots  are  used  to  cut 
down  the  ink  surface  and  increase  the  light  of  the  paper 
showing  through.  Of  course  these  dots  are  carefully  placed 
and  massed  so  that  we  get  the  picture  from  the  plate. 

304.  Relation  of  Engraving  and  Art  Work. — Quite 
often  the  art  work  referred  to  in  Chapter  XIII  is  done  by 
the  engraver.  You  can  send  a  tea-kettle  to  the  engraver, 
for  example,  and  order  a  certain  engraving  made  and  the 

358 


THE  ENGRAVINGS  AND  ELECTROTYPES   359 

engraver  will  photograph,  retouch,  and  work  with  the  tea- 
kettle until  a  good  engraving  has  been  produced. 

Through  the  courtesy  of  Advertising  &  Selling,  we  are 
able,  in  Fig.  92,  to  reproduce  a  graphic  chart  which  shows 
the  interrelation  of  engravings  and  art  work  and  their 
connection  with  paper  stocks. 

This  chart  was  originally  prepared  by  the  head  of  an 
organization  of  artists.  All  drawings  (see  Section  295) 
have  been  grouped  by  this  artist  under  four  main  heads: 

1.  Wash  drawings  and  oil  paintings. 

2.  Pen-and-ink  drawings. 

3.  Texture  drawings — charcoal  and  crayon. 

4.  Mechanical  drawings — as  in  retouched  photographs. 

Each  of  these  four  classes  of  drawings  is  further  defined 
under  Textures.  For  instance,  wash  drawings  can  be 
made  in  four  textures : 

1.  Illustrations  in  colors. 

2.  Poster  and  impressionistic  effects. 

3.  Mechanical  finish — true  to  life. 

4.  Combination  line  and  tone  effects. 

Following  the  chart  across,  the  printing  probabilities 
of  each  of  these  will  be  found. 

305.  Classification  of  Engravings. — Generally  speaking, 
there  are  three  processes  of  making  plates  for  illustrating 
direct  advertising:  (1)  Line  engraving,  or  zinc  etching — 
occasionally  made  on  copper;  (2)  half-tone  engraving;  and 
(3)  wood  engraving.  The  first  two  are  spoken  of  as  photo- 
engraving or  process  engraving,  by  reason  of  the  fact  that 
the  process  means  transferring  a  design  to  a  metal  plate 
through  photographic  steps  supplemented  by  etching  or 
other  means  of  cutting  away  portions  not  desired. 

306.  Line  Engravings  or  Zinc  Etchings. — A  plate  made 
from  a  pen-and-ink  drawing  or  from  any  drawing  or 
print  made  of  distinct  lines,  dots,  or  masses  of  solid  color 
is  called  a  line  engraving,  line  cut,  zinc  etching,  or  some- 
times merely  *'a  zinc."     Sometimes  when  the  design  is  so 


360         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

fine  that  it  cannot  be  etched  on  the  somewhat  less  pliable 
zinc,  it  is  etched  on  copper. 

The  picture  portion  of  Fig.  83  showing  the  two  men  is 
an  example  of  a  line-engraving  made  from  a  pen-and-ink 
drawing. 

A  zinc  etching  cannot  be  made  from  a  photograph,  a 
wash  drawing,  a  colored  lithograph,  any  "copy"  contain- 
ing tints  or  half-tones  or  a  natural  object  without  first 
making  a  line  or  a  stipple  drawing. 

A  regular  zinc  etching  of  a  black  and  white  drawing  will 
make  a  black  reproduction  when  printed  upon  white  paper. 
Occasionally  by  using  the  positive  print  instead  of  a  nega- 
tive the  advertiser  makes  what  is  known  as  a  reverse  zinc 
etching ;  that  is,  this  plate  printed  upon  white  paper  makes 
the  white  letters  upon  a  black  background. 

Drawings,  where  possible,  should  be  made  on  white  paper 
with  black  india  ink.  Red,  orange,  dark  blue,  and  dark 
green  can  also  be  reproduced  where  necessary.  If  shaded 
effects  are  necessary,  they  are  secured  by  drawing  fine  lines 
or  dots  close  together.  These  shaded  effects,  though,  must 
BE  DRAWN,  for  the  print  from  the  finished  line  engraving  is 
always  an  exact  duplicate  of  the  original  drawing.  In  a 
zinc  which  is  to  be  made  from  an  original  containing  gray 
tones,  the  gray  tones  would  be  reproduced  either  as  black 
or  white. 

Zinc  etchings  may  be  made  with  Ben  Day  treatment,  and 
Fig.  94  A  illustrates  a  line  engraving  with  Ben  Day  tint 
made  from  a  pen-and-ink  drawing.  They  can  also  be  made 
in  connection  with  half-tones,  in  which  event  the  finished 
plate  is  called  a  "combination  plate,"  as  shown  on  Fig.  94  B. 

Zincs  are  less  expensive  than  half-tones  and  can  be  used 
on  any  stock  of  paper  which  will  take  any  printing  plate. 

Fig.  95  B  illustrates  a  solid  color  or  silhouette  zinc  etch- 
ing. Fig.  95  A  the  "reverse"  etching,  reproducing  white 
on  black. 

307.  Wood  Engraving  Not  Often  Used. — Wood  engrav- 
ings, which  were  the  original  form  of  engravings,  are  much 
more  expensive  than  other  engravings  since  because  they 


Fi<f.  94. — A  line  cngi'aving  with  Ben  Day  tint  added,  in  tlie 
original  tlie  cliild's  face,  part  of  dress,  ])illo\v  and  laml)  were 
shaded.  ]>.  C'oniljination  line  and  lialf-tone  enjii'aving.  (iirl's 
liead  is  in  lialf-tone,  tlie  rest  is  in  line  enyraxini;.  ('.  'IWo  colors. 
one  lialf-tone  and  one  I'en  Day  zinc.  'Hie  words  "Life  &  Health" 
show  full  color  of  zinc:  the  rest  of  desitrn  is  shaded  with  it.  D. 
Two  colors,  both  half-tont  s.     Entire  plate  liy  half-tone  process. 


THE  ENGRAVINGS  AND  ELECTROTYPES      361 


are  etched  by  hand  on  wooden  blocks  they  consume  a  great 
deal  of  time.  They  offer  an  almost  "novel"  treatment  at 
the  present  time  because  so  little  used.  The  drawings  of 
Franklin  Booth,  so  often  seen  in  publication  advertise- 
ments, are  excellently  adapted  to  the  wood  engraving. 


Fig.  95. — A.  The  black  portion  of  this  design  was  produced  by 
means  of  what  is  known  as  a  reverse  zinc  etching.  What  was 
black  on  the  original  drawing  became  white  on  the  etching.  B. 
The  human  figure  in  this  design  is  drawn  in  silhouette. 

308.  Half-tone  Engravings. — The  usual  form  of  illus- 
tration is  the  half-tone,  by  the  use  of  which  every  tone  from 
black  to  white  is  reproduced. 

The  original  or  "copy"  from  which  a  half-tone  is  to  be 
made  is  photographed  through  a  fine  screen.  This  screen 
consists  of  two  pieces  of  glass  ruled  with  parallel  lines  and 
joined  together  in  such  a  manner  that  the  lines  run  at  riglit 
angles,  thus  producing  dots.  The  number  of  lines  "varies 
from  55  to  200  to  the  square  inch.  The  more  lines  there  are, 
the  finer  will  be  the  half-tone,  and  the  smoother  will  be  re- 
quired the  piece  of  paper  upon  which  to  print  best  results. 


362         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

See  Section  311  with  reference  to  screens  and  their  rela- 
tion to  paper  stocks. 

Half-tones  may  be  made  from  photographs,  wash  draw- 
ings, and  many  other  forms  of  illustration  such  as  water- 
color  paintings,  photogravures,  lithographs,  steel  engrav- 
ings, and  even  direct  from  the  object  itself.  A  half-tone 
can  be  made  direct  from  the  object  itself  only  when  the 
object  is  nearly  flat,  so  that  all  of  it  can  be  brought  into 
focus.  A  comb,  gloves,  buttons,  and  the  like  can  be  used 
for  making  a  half-tone  direct. 

Half-tones  cannot,  as  a  rule,  be  made  from  reproductions 
of  half-tones  because  the  two  screens  will  clash  and  give  a 
blurred  impression.  If  a  very  large  reduction  is  being 
made  this  objection  can  sometimes  be  overcome. 

All  of  the  plates  in  this  book  printed  on  coated  paper 
stock  are  half-tones  while  those  running  on  the  regular  text 
paper  are  zinc  etchings,  except  Fig.  97  b. 

309.  Many  Varieties  of  Half-tones. — There  are  many 
varieties  of  half-tones.  The  following  definitions  are  the 
standard  trade  terms  adopted  by  the  International  Associa- 
tion of  Photo-engravers : 

Square  finish — A  half-tone  in  which  the  outside  edges 
are  rectangular  and  parallel,  and  may  be  with  or  without 
single  black  line  border. 

Outlined — A  half-tone  with  the  background  outside  of 
the  object  entirely  cut  away,  leaving  a  definite  edge  with- 
out shading  or  vignetting. 

Vignetted — A  half-tone  in  which  one  or  more  of  the 
edges  of  the  object  are  shaded  from  dark  tones  to  pure 
white. 

Outlined  and  vignetted — A  half-tone  in  which  part  of  the 
background  is  cut  away  and  part  vignetted. 

Highlight  half-tone — A  half-tone  plate  in  which  the  elim- 
ination of  the  dots  in  the  highlights  is  accomplished  by  a 
photo-chemical  process  instead  of  cutting  them  out  with  a 
tool. 

News-tone — A  name  sometimes  given  to  coarse-screen 
half-tones  (55  to  65  screen)  always  etched  on  zinc  and  used 


THE  ENGRAVINGS  AND  ELECTROTYPES   363 

mostly  for  newspaper  work.  Also  known  as  ''quarter- 
tone."     Note:     Usually  half -tones  are  etched  on  copper. 

Metzograph — A  half-tone  made  by  the  use  of  a  grained 
screen  instead  of  a  cross-line  screen. 

Duograph — Two  half-tone  plates  made  from  one  copy  and 
usually  printed  in  black  and  one  tint,  or  two  shades  of  the 
same  color,  the  two  plates  made  with  different  screen  angles. 
Fig.  94  D  illustrates  how  two  half-tones  have  been  used  to 
secure  two  colors. 

Duotype — Two  half-tone  plates  made  from  one  copy,  both 
from  the  same  negative  and  etched  differently. 

Two-color  half-tone — Two  half-tone  plates,  either  or  both 
of  which  are  etched,  containing  parts  or  all  of  the  design, 
to  be  printed  in  two  contrasting  colors. 

Three  or  more  color  half-tones — Same  as  covered  in  defi- 
nition of  two-color  half-tone,  but  using  three  or  more  etched 
half-tone  plates. 

On  Fig.  94  you  will  find  illustrated  four  different 
methods  of  getting  color  work  in  illustrations.  The  illus- 
tration of  "Ruth  Roland  and  Helene  Chadwick"  is  made 
by  two  half-tones.  "Life  and  Health"  is  made  by  using 
one  half-tone  plate  and  one  Ben  Day  on  zinc.  The  child- 
hood scene  shows  what  can  be  done  with  two  Ben  Day  zinc 
plates. 

Three-color  process  plates — Printing  plates  produced 
from  colored  copy  or  objects  to  reproduce  the  picture  or 
object  in  its  original  colors  by  a  photo-chemical  separation 
of  the  primary  colors,  and  etched  half-tone  plates  to  repro- 
duce each  separate  color,  usually  printed  in  yellow,  red, 
and  blue  (see  Section  300).  An  approximate  result  may 
be  obtained  from  one-color  copy  by  using  the  skill  of  the 
workmen  in  securing  the  color  values  on  the  etched  plates. 

The  reader  may  wish  to  know  the  difference  between 
three  half-tones  and  three-color  process  work.  In  the  case 
of  using  three  half-tones  the  plates  are  printed  in  arbitrary 
colors  of  the  artist's  selection  while  in  the  case  of  three- 
color  process  work  invariably  the  plates  are  printed  in  the 
three  primary  colors. 


364 


EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


Four-color  process  plates — Same  as  the  three-color 
process,  with  the  addition  of  a  gray  or  black  plate. 

Copy  for  the  process  plates  should  be  in  color,  otherwise 
the  engraver  has  little  to  guide  him  in  getting  the  proper 
color  values  from  each  of  the  various  plates. 

310.  Ben  Day  Process. — Literally  hundreds  of  shading 
effects,  stippling,  tinting,  ruling,  etc.,  may  be  secured  by 
use  of  the  various  screens  or  films,  the  designs  of  which  are 
transferred  to  the  unetched  plate  by  means  of  a  machine 
invented  by  the  late  Benjamin  Day.  Fig.  96  illustrates 
just  a  few  of  these  Ben  Day  effects,  and  Fig.  94  A  shows 


506 


306 


329 


Fig.   96. — Examples  of   the   shaded  effects   possible  with   Ben   Day 

treatment. 

how  one  Ben  Day  shading  has  been  added  to  the  drawing 
of  a  child  so  as  to  give  ''life"  to  the  face,  hands,  etc. 

311.  Relation  of  Screens  to  Paper  Stocks. — In  Section 
808  we  found  that  half-tones  could  be  made  from  55-  to  200- 
line  screens.  A  screen  for  the  cheapest  and  coarsest  of 
newspaper  may  be  55-  or  65-line,  which  is  coarse  enough  to 
stereotype.  But  to  electrotype  you  should  have  at  least 
an  85-line  screen.  Neither  of  these  will  give  a  great  deal  of 
detail  in  the  finished  picture. 

A  110-line  screen  is  better  for  detail  but  will  not  stereo- 
type satisfactorily. 


THE  ENGRAVINGS  AND  ELECTROTYPES   365 

The  120-line  screen  is  best  adapted  for  eleetrotyping ;  it 
shows  much  detail  and  may  be  used  for  much  direct  adver- 
tising. 

A  133-line  screen  is  the  finest  for  electrotypes  and  brings 
out  details  clearly ;  nothing  coarser  than  this  should  be  used 
for  vignetted  half-tones. 

Half-tones  of  150-line  screen  are  used  for  the  best  of 
coated  papers  but  not  for  any  dull-finished  stock. 

Allowances  must  be  made  for  differences  in  the  subject 
matter  and  the  character  of  the  originals  from  which  the 
engravings  are  to  be  made.  A  dainty  face,  a  piece  of  silken 
fabric,  or  a  delicate  fiower  may  possibly  justify  the  use  of 
a  finer  screen  half-tone  than  that  for  an  iron  casting,  an 
automobile  body,  or  a  steam-shovel,  even  though  all  of  these 
are  to  be  printed  on  the  same  grade  of  paper. 

"For  ordinary  purposes  the  following  table  may  be  taken 
as  a  safe  guide  to  follow  in  ordering  half-tone  cuts  for  use 
with  the  various  grades  of  printing  paper, ' '  says  the  Whit- 
aker  Paper  Company  in  an  issue  of  Paragrafs: 

For  fine  Enameled  Book  Papers  Use  150  to  175  line  plates. 

For  Dull  Finished  Stock   " 

For  S.  &  S.  C.  Stock " 

For  M.  F.  Book " 

For  Bond  and  Ledger  Paper  . .     " 
For  Newsprint " 

A  good  rule,  when  in  doubt,  is  to  use  a  coarser  screen 
rather  than  a  finer  one. 

In  fact  sometimes  very  attractive  results  can  be  secured 
by  using  coarse  screen  half-tones  on  fine  stock.  Fig.  97b 
illustrates  the  pleasing  effect  of  a  65-line  screen  on  coated 
stock  as  compared  with  Fig.  97a  on  M.  F.  Book. 

312.  Electrotypes. — An  electrotype  is  a  duplicate  from 
a  printing  plate  or  type  made  exact  size  from  an  impression 
of  the  original.  Remember  you  cannot  get  an  electrotype 
unless  you  already  have  the  original.  Frequently  advertis- 
ers will  order  "an  electrotype  from  the  attached  photo- 
graph." Until  a  half-tone  has  been  made  (if  it  is  a  photo- 
graph) or  a  zinc  etching  (if  it  is  a  drawing),  no  electrotype 


120  " 

150 

100  " 

133 

100  " 

133 

85  " 

100 

65  " 

85 

Fig.  07a. — The  65-line  screen  is 
not  necessarily  restricted  to  half- 
tones for  printing  on  rough-sur- 
faced papers.  Certain  subjects 
may  be  reproduced,  in  a  novel 
manner,  on  a  high-tinished  stock, 
by  the  use  of  coarse  screens.  Com- 
pare this  with  the  same  plate  on 
coated  stock  opposite. 
306 


Fig.  DTb. — The  6.1-line  screen  is 
not  necessarily  restricted  to  half- 
tones for  printin<?  on  roii'.rh-sur- 
faced  papers.  Certain  suhjects 
may  be  reproduced,  in  a  novel 
manner,  on  a  high-tinished  stoiK, 
by  the  use  of  coarse  screens.  The 
example  shown  would  look  even 
better  on  an  india   tint  paper. 


1  lUC 

Watei 

Topless 


I'lg.  'J8. —  (Right)    How  deckle-edged  paper  has  been  used  lo 
create  atmosphere.    (Left)  A  "wood"  cover.    See  text  for  details. 


THE  ENGRAVINGS  AND  ELECTROTYPES   367 

can  be  made.  Both  zinc  etchings  and  half-tones  can  be 
used  for  printing  plates,  but  it  is  safer,  and  usually  the 
rule,  to  hold  these  originals  in  reserve  and  make  electro- 
types of  them  from  which  to  print. 

Occasionally  pages  or  forms,  including  not  only  the  illus- 
trations (half-tones  and  etchings)  but  also  the  type  itself, 
are  electrotyped. 

If  a  book  or  catalogue  is  to  remain  in  use  a  long  time  and 
be  reprinted  from  time  to  time,  it  may  be  well  to  electrotype 
all  the  forms. 

313.  Miscellaneous  Terms  Defined. — In  addition  to  the 
terms  already  defined,  the  following  terms  may  be  met  with, 
in  ordering  engravings. 

Deep  etching — Additional  etching  made  necessary  to  se- 
cure proper  printing  depth  (where  this  cannot  be  accom- 
plished by  routing)  and  usually  caused  by  the  use  of  dense 
black  lines,  or  line  negatives  and  half-tone  negatives  being 
combined  in  one  plate.  If  a  half-tone  is  to  be  used  on  bond 
paper,  for  example,  a  deep  etch  should  be  ordered. 

Negative  etching — A  plate  from  which  the  blacks  of  the 
original  copy  will  print  white  and  the  whites  will  print 
black.     See  * '  reverse  plate ' '  of  Section  306. 

Embossing  plate — A  plate  cut  or  etched  below  its  surface 
for  the  purpose  of  raising  the  image  of  the  printed  surface. 

Stamping  die — A  relief  plate  engraved  on  brass  or  zinc 
for  stamping  book  covers  or  similar  surfaces. 

Hand-tooling — Any  work  done  by  use  of  a  tool  upon  the 
plate  to  increase  the  contrast  of  the  etched  plate. 

Mortise — The  space  cut  out  from  any  part  of  the  plate 
for  the  insertion  of  type  matter  or  smaller  plates. 

Metal  hlocking — Plates  are  sometimes  blocked  on  metal 
in  place  of  wood  when  it  is  desired  to  insure  extra  fine 
printing.  Metal  blocking  is  more  expensive  than  the  usual 
wood  base. 

Stereotype — Stereotypes  are  made  by  beating  or  rolling  a 
moistened  paper  pulp  substance  against  the  type  form, 
including  any  illustrations  which  are  to  be  stereotyped. 
This  forms  a  matrix  upon  which  molten  lead  is  poured, 


368         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

making  an  exact  reproduction  of  the  original  surface — like 
an  electrotype.  Stereotypes  are  used  almost  exclusively  by 
newspapers. 

3 13 A.  Number  of  Impressions  from  Engraving  Plates, 
— Oliver  L.  Bell,  then  manager  Robert  L.  Stillson  Company 
of  New  York,  in  addressing  the  Technical  Publicity  Associ- 
ation of  that  city  was  sponsor  'for  the  following  estimates 
as  to  the  length  of  life  of  engraving  plates.  By  length  of 
life  is  meant  the  number  of  "good"  impressions  possible 
from  an  engraving. 

A  carefully  made  engraving,  either  half-tone  or  zinc 
etching,  properly  made-ready  on  a  cylinder  press,  should 
run  .from  75,000  to  100,000  impressions. 

Many  more  impressions  can  be  had  from  lead-molded, 
steel-face  electrotypes  of  half-tones  than  from  the  half- 
tones themselves.  Mr.  Bell  spoke  of  having  gotten  as  high 
as  425,000  impressions  from  such  electrotypes,  and  of  fre- 
quently getting  as  many  as  200,000  impressions. 

314.  Ordering  Engravings. — The  beginner  must  bear 
in  mind  that  reductions  are  made  photographically  and  in 
every  case  the  size  of  the  reduction  will  be  in  proportion  to 
THE  SIZE  of  the  ORIGINAL.  A  drawing  or  a  photo,  8  x  10, 
for  example,  cannot  be  reduced  to  4  x  6  without  cutting  off 
part  of  it,  or  "cropping,"  as  it  is  called.  Therefore  you 
can  specify  only  one  side — height  or  width,  but  not  both. 

To  find  the  unknown  dimension  of  an  engraving  use 
simple  proportion  thus: 

8      :     10     as  4      :      ? 
Or  if  you  prefer,  use  this  simple  method : 

Lay  out  a  rectangle  the  same  size  as  the  extreme  dimen- 
sions of  the  original  (copy ) .  Draw  a  diagonal.  Lay  out  on 
the  horizontal  line  the  proposed  width.  Draw  a  vertical 
line  to  the  diagonal.  The  length  of  this  vertical  line  will 
be  the  desired  height.  Or  if  you  wish  to  make  the  finished 
plate  a  certain  height,  reverse  this  last  process. 

Fig.  99  illustrates  simply  this  diagonal  method  of  arriv- 
ing at  the  size  of  reduction  from  an  original.  In  this  case 
the  original  was  8   inches  wide  and  the  drawing  shows 


THE  ENGRAVINGS  AND  ELECTROTYPES      369 


the  height  which  would  be  secured  if  reduced  to  either  4 
inches  or  6  inches  in  width.  Most  engravings  are  ordered 
reduced  to  a  certain  width,  letting  the  height  come  as  it 
will.  Attention  should  be  called  to  the  fact  that  as  a  rule 
plates  are  reductions  from  originals:  the  defects  in 
the  originals  will  show  up ;  especially  is  this  true  if  enlarge- 
ments are  attempted. 


Fig.    99. — ^This    figure    illustrates    how    you 
can  find  the  depth  of  an  engraving  which  is 
reduced  to  a  certain  width.     See  text  for  de- 
tails. 

You  should  also  remember  that  the  block  of  wood  or  metal 
upon  which  the  half-tone  or  zinc  is  mounted  will  be  some- 
what larger  than  the  face  of  the  plate  itself. 


370         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

It  is  not  good  policy  to  mark  a  photograph  or  other 
original  "Reduce  one-third."  Give  the  engraver  actual 
measurements  desired,  and  if  you  attempt  to  specify  both 
height  and  depth  see  that  the  original  scales  to  those  sizes. 

Questions  for  Class  Work  or  Review  Purposes 

1.  "What  is  a  line  engraving?     Zinc  eteliing? 

2.  Define  a  half-tone  and  describe  how  it  is  made. 

3.  If  I  should  send  you  a  photograph  of  a  power-house,  could 
you  have  an  electrotype  made  of  it? 

4.  What  are  electrotj'pes  for? 

5.  Suppose  you  were  ordering  plates  for  a  patent-medicine 
almanac  to  be  printed  on  a  very  cheap  grade  of  paper,  what  kind 
would  you  order? 

6.  See  how  many  different  varieties  of  half-tones  and  line 
engravings  you  can  discover. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  PAPER  STOCK 

Is  not  this  a  lamentable  thing,  that  of  the  skin  of  an  innocent 
lamb  should  be  made  parchment?  That  parchment,  being  scrib- 
bled o'er,  should  undo  a  man? — Shakespeare. 

315.  The  Least  Considered  Factor  in  Direct  Advertis- 
ing.— W.  PI.  Crow,  speaking  before  the  Philadelphia  con- 
vention of  the  Associated  Advertising  Clubs  of  the  World, 
made  this  statement,  emphasizing  the  words  of  Shakespeare 
quoted  in  the  chapter  head:  "Without  a  doubt,  paper  is 
the  least  considered  of  the  various  factors  in  direct  adver- 
tising. Too  frequently  the  attitude  towards  paper  is  that 
it  is  a  necessary  evil,  an  incident  to  copy,  typography,  en- 
graving, etc.  It  is  chosen  because  it  satisfies  the  bald  neces- 
sities of  appearance,  price,  and  printability.  Of  course 
these  are  important  considerations,  but  they  are  frequently 
not  so  important  as  the  intrinsic  qualities  of  the  paper 
itself."  Mr.  Crow  made  this  remark  in  1916  and  as  this 
paragraph  is  written  (late  in  1920)  the  situation  has  not 
materially  changed  though  many  of  the  leading  paper 
manufacturers  have  been  conducting  campaigns  for  the  ed- 
ucation of  printers  and  users  of  paper  in  paper  values. 

The  paper  industry  seems  to  be  surrounded  by  a  film 
of  tradition  which  cannot  be  pierced  to  the  extent  of  adapt- 
ing the  same  kind  of  educational  publicity  for  a  necessity 
ised  in  business  every  day — paper — which  has  been  used 
for  a  soup  or  a  soap. 

In  this  chapter  we  can  but  hope  to  arouse  the  reader  to 
give  a  bit  more  consideration  to  paper  as  one  of  the 
mechanical  factors  which  also  has  a  physical,  mental  (psy- 
chological) ;  yes,  even  a  strategic  appeal. 

We  ourselves  have  almost  stumbled  into  the  rut  by  at- 

371 


372        EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

tributing  to  paper  a  place  more  or  less  purely  mechanical, 
when  it  should  more  properly  be  classed  among  the  physi- 
cal or  mental  factors. 

From  the  printer's  standpoint  paper  represents  about 
one-third  of  the  total  cost  of  an  average  printing  job;  for 
this  reason,  therefore,  it  was  deemed  best  to  place  the  chap- 
ter at  this  point  though,  of  course,  paper — which  you  are  to 
print  upon — is  of  primary  importance. 

316.  The  Interrelation  of  Paper  with  Other  Factors. — 
George  French,  a  lover  of  printing  for  its  own  sake  and  as 
an  expression  of  the  principles  of  art,  in  his  book,  "Print- 
ing in  Relation  to  Art,"  said:  "It  is  a  complex  and  an 
involved  process  to  select  the  proper  paper  for  a  given  piece 
of  printing,  and  the  rightful  decision  of  either  of  the  com- 
ponent elements  involves  the  rightful  decision  with  refer- 
ence to  each  of  the  others.  It  is  impossible  to  consider  the 
question  of  paper  apart  from  a  consideration  of  the  typog- 
raphy, the  illustrations,  the  format,  and  the  binding;  and 
it  is  not  possible  to  consider  any  of  these  elements  apart 
from  the  literary  motive,  which  must  always  be  the  founda- 
tion of  the  structure."  Yet  in  another  place  in  that  same 
work  Mr.  French  recognizes  the  necessity  of  making  a  start 
somewhere  and  says:  "It  is  good  practice  to  select  the 
paper  as  the  first  step  in  the  planning  of  a  book  that  is 
intended  to  be  upon  artistic  lines  and  upon  this  foundation 
to  build  the  typography  and  the  binding,  according  to  the 
rules  of  harmony  and  of  proportion." 

These  quotations  emphasize  both  the  interrelation  of 
paper  with  certain  other  factors  and  lead  us  to  the  inevita- 
ble conclusion,  taken  in  conjunction  with  Section  315,  that 
advertisers  have  been  prone  to  buy  paper  more  or  less 
upon  a  basis  of  quantity  rather  than  upon  quality.  In  1880 
statistics  show  that  the  demand  for  paper  in  the  United 
States  was  about  3  pounds  per  capita.  In  1894  this  had 
moved  up  to  5  pounds,  while  in  1919  it  had  jumped  up  to  33 
pounds,  and  in  1920  was  estimated  as  in  excess  of  35  pounds 
per  person. 

Before  discussing  the  different  classes  of  paper,  thpre- 


THE  PAPER  STOCK  373 

fore,  we  feel  it  well  to  dwell  at  some  length  upon  how  to 
decide  upon  the  paper  stock  to  use  in  producing  a  piece  of 
direct  advertising  as  well  as  to  touch  upon  the  psychology 
of  paper. 

317.  Selecting  the  Right  Paper  Stock. — First  having 
found  out  (Chapter  VIII)  the  type  of  advertiser;  having 
considered  the  character,  standing,  dignity,  and  nature  of 
this  advertiser's  business;  and  having  studied  the  class, 
means,  conditions,  occupation,  nationality,  age  and  sex  of 
the  persons  advertised  to ;  as  well  as  having  given  thought 
to  the  kind,  quality,  nature,  distinctive  characteristics  of 
the  product  or  service  we  are  to  advertise;  secondly  (Chap- 
ter X),  having  decided  upon  the  style  and  tenor  of  our 
"copy"  appeal;  thirdly,  (Chapters  XIII  and  XIV),  hav- 
ing arrived  at  a  decision  as  to  the  process,  colors,  and 
methods  of  illustrations,  Mr.  Crow  (see  Section  315)  brings 
us,  fourthly,  to  the  selection  of  the  paper  based  upon  these 
three  main  rules: 

1.  Form.     Considerations  of  economy,  or  elimination  of  waste 

on  the  part  of  the  advertiser  are  thrown  in  the  balance 
as  against  convenience,  impressiveness,  effectiveness,  etc., 
with  reference  to  prospective  buyers.  Form  is  also  in- 
fluenced by  the  consideration  of  the  effectiveness  of  the 
illustrations. 

2.  Symbolical  or  suggestive  attributes  of  the  paper. 

3.  Physical  characteristics  of  the  paper. 

Under  the  physical  characteristics  of  paper  we  must 
consider 

a.  Surface. 
h.  Strength. 

c.  Durability. 

d.  Printability. 

e.  Color. 

Many  subdivisions  might  be  considered  under  each  of 
these  three  main  and  five  minor  headings. 

By  "form,"  reference  is  made  to  the  use  of  a  size  of 
paper  (standard)  which  will  cut  without  waste  for  the  job 


374         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


in  hand.  In  this  connection  see  Appendices  A  and  C. 
Form  also  has  reference  to  the  weight  of  the  paper  used, 
which  is  covered  in  Appendix  C. 

A  simple  example  of  the  symbolical  or  suggestive  attri- 
bute of  paper  would  be  denoted  in  the  use  of  a  golden 
orange  or  golden  yellow  paper  for  a  manufacturer  of 
creamery  butter  made  in  a  golden  color.  This  shows  the 
use  of  the  color — a  physical  characteristic — to  suggest 
quality. 

A  banking  house  will  find  that  for  its  letterheads  a  good 
crinkly  "rich-feeling"  bond  paper — also  a  physical  char- 
acteristic— makes  an  impression  upon  the  recipient. 

The  following  quoted  from  an  advertising  folder  of  the 
Strathmore  Paper  Company  will  show  how  little  it  really 
costs,  figured  on  a  letterhead  basis,  to  use  really  high  grade 
paper : 

The  Cost  of  a  Letter 


Item 

Using  Cheap       Using  Hig^h 
Paper                    Grade 

Stenography 

Office    overhead    

Postage   

Printing    

Paper  and  envelopes   

$.0727 
.0727 
.0200 
.0051 
.0087 

$.0727 
.0727 
.0200 
.0051 
.0178 

Total   cost  per  letter    . . . 

.1792 

.1883 

Difference  in  cost    

.0091 

Especially  in  the  case  of  mailing  cards,  folders,  broad- 
sides,  and  the  like,  the  folding  quality  of  the  paper  must 
be  given  careful  consideration. 

■  In  many  instances  excellent  effects  can  be  secured  by 
using  bond  paper  for  booklets  (there  is  a  wide  range  of 
tints  and  shades  available),  and  overcoming  the  tendency 
of  the  printing  to  ''show  through,"  on  account  of  its  semi- 
transparency,  by  using  what  is  known  as  the  French  fold — 


THE  PAPER  STOCK  375 

two  pages  uncut,  and  printing  only  on  one  side  of  the 
paper  as  illustrated  in  Fig.  70. 

318.  Results  from  Proper  and  Improper  Paper  Selec- 
tion.— Speaking  before  the  Cleveland  convention  of  the  Di- 
rect Mail  Advertising  Association,  George  F.  McKenney,  a 
practical  printer,  told  of  a  specialty  manufacturer  selling 
to  druggists  who  got  up  a  very  beautiful  two-color  booklet, 
printed  on  a  heavily  coated  paper.  The  results  were  not 
satisfactory.  After  some  study  it  was  found  that  this  glar- 
ing white  paper  when  read  under  electric  light  was  very 
hard  on  the  eyes,  and  it  was  found  that  the  class  appealed 
to  almost  always  read  their  mail  under  this  condition. 
Druggists  usually  work  long  hours  too.  A  new  booklet, 
identical  except  that  it  was  printed  on  a  dull-finished  paper, 
was  prepared  and,  to  quote  Mr.  McKenney,  ''the  resulting 
business  clearly  showed  that  the  change  was  worth  far 
more  than  the  expense." 

At  the  same  convention,  B.  E.  Hill,  advertising  manager 
of  a  firm  wholesaling  by  mail,  told  of  a  test  of  two  dif- 
ferent pieces,  one  of  which,  on  colored  paper,  produced 
five  times  the  results  of  the  one  on  white  paper. 

While  Charles  S.  Wiggins,  a  Canadian  advertiser,  at  the 
same  meeting  recited  the  case  of  a  mailing  into  Canada  for 
the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  which  was  inclosed  in  an  enve- 
lope of  a  highly  finished,  therefore  brittle,  paper.  Travel- 
ing a  long  distance  the  contents  worked  through  the 
envelope  with  the  result  that  it  was  necessary  to  readdress 
the  pieces  in  new  envelopes  before  delivering  them,  in  addi- 
tion to  paying  duty  on  advertising  material  which  would  not 
have  been  chargeable  had  the  original  envelopes  held 
together. 

Postage  for  October,  1919,  tells  of  a  test  made  by  an  ad- 
vertiser using  quality  stationery  on  one  lot  of  one  thousand 
names  and  cheap  stationery  on  another  thousand.  There 
was  no  difference  in  the  copy  or  quality  of  list.  The  cheap 
stationery  brought  20  per  cent  inquiries  and  the  high-grade 
stationery  brought  32  per  cent  inquiries. 

Many   other   interesting   examples  were   cited,   but   one 


376         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

more,  this  one  from  the  catalogue  field,  will  serve  to  point 
the  moral, 

T.  R.  Emerson,  a  shoe  wholesaler,  in  Printers'  Ink  for 
November  26,  1914,  told  of  a  catalogue  which  cost  $1.25  to 
produce,  at  that  time  considered  a  very  high-priced  cata- 
logue. This  was  his  second  venture  into  the  field  of  de 
luxe  catalogues  and  Mr.  Emerson  said  of  it :  "It  is  pulling 
more  strongly  than  the  first  one.  The  cost  of  selling  shoes 
on  the  road  is,  roughly,  5  per  cent.  Even  with  a  $1.25 
catalogue,  which  is  high  for  the  line,  our  costs  run  only 
from  IV2  to  2  per  cent.  It  would  be  higher  with  a  poorer 
catalogue,  poorer  mailing  list,  or  a  poorer  line." 

319.  The  Psychology  of  Paper. — Aside  from  references 
already  made  in  preceding  sections  little  study  has  been 
given  to  the  psychology  of  paper.  It  will  suffice,  to  point 
the  way,  to  say  that  in  advertising  a  massive  piece  of  ma- 
chinery your  appeal  will  register  better  mentally  with  the 
prospect  if  the  paper  upon  which  it  comes  is  strong  and  has 
an  appearance  of  durability.  If  you  are  advertising  fine 
laces,  a  delicate,  though  not  cheap  or  flimsy,  paper  will 
help  to  impress  Mrs.  or  Miss  Prospect.  If  it  is  a  highly 
polished  piece  of  cut  glass,  or  polished  tools,  you  may  need 
to  use  the  highly  finished  coated  papers.  While  if  it  is  a 
baker's  product  you  will  find  that  offset  papers  aid  the 
mental  appeal.  Offset  papers  also  add  to  the  eye-appeal  of 
woolen  products.  A  linen-finish  paper  makes  an  impres- 
sion upon  women.  Paper  with  deckle-edges  seems  to 
impress  both  sexes. 

Look  at  Fig.  98  and  notice  how  the  deckle-edge  (the 
frayed  part  at  the  right  of  the  illustration)  has  been  effec- 
tively used  to  help  create  prestige  and  atmosphere  for  the 
Pierce-Arrow  automobile. 

Fig.  98  also  illustrates  the  cover  of  a  house  organ  pub- 
lished by  a  large  industrial  organization.  This  particular 
number  featured  the  building  of  a  town  of  their  own  in  the 
wooded  country  of  Virginia,  where  they  logged  the  virgin 
forests.  They  therefore  suggested  their  feature  article  with 
a  real  wood  cover.     It  is  an  extremely  thin  film  of  wood, 


THE  PAPER  STOCK  377 

made  by  the  Japanese  from  a  species  of  soft  pine  known  as 
Kiri.  Think  how  effective  this  paper  would  be  for  the  cover 
of  a  booklet  on  any  subject  closely  tied  up  with  the  forests, 
or  wood,  such  as  furniture,  homes,  lumber,  etc. 

Where  it  is  desired  to  use  the  color  of  the  paper  to  sug- 
gest certain  ideas  to  the  recipient,  see  Section  302,  which 
applies  practically  as  well  to  paper  as  to  ink. 

In  selecting  the  cover  paper  to  be  used  on  ''The  Optim- 
ism Book  for  Offices,"  shown  on  Fig.  15,  for  instance,  a 
paper  was  chosen  which  suggested  an  optimistic  note.  That 
is,  the  very  paper  itself  suggested  brightness,  life,  and 
vigor. 

"William  Aspinwall  Bradley  in  *'The  Printing  Art  Sug- 
gestion Book"  some  years  ago  said:  "There  can  be  no 
question  that  a  slightly  toned  book  paper  is  preferable  to  a 
dead  white.  For  the  toned  paper  certainly  presents  a  more 
agreeable  surface  to  the  eye  than  white  paper.  It  reduces 
the  black  and  w^hite  contrast  of  the  printed  page  which  can 
be  so  painful."  Yet  few  advertising  men  have  followed 
the  idea  of  colored  papers  in  making  booklets,  catalogues, 
and  the  like. 

There  is  a  rich,  scarcely  touched,  field  for  development 
in  the  study  of  paper's  psychological  appeal.  For  an  ap- 
peal to  juveniles  or  to  an  uncultured  class  it  may  be  found 
that  the  cheapest,  most  ordinary  paper  is  a  better  invest- 
ment than  the  higher-grade  and  necessarily  higher-priced 
paper ! 

320.  Two  Main  Classifications  of  Papers  to  Be  Con- 
sidered.— In  the  production  of  direct  advertising  there  are 
two  main  classes  of  papers  to  be  considered:  (1)  Cover 
papers,  used  not  only  for  covers,  but  for  mailing  cards, 
folders,  broadsides,  and  even  upon  occasion  for  letterheads, 
and  (2)  body  or  text  stock. 

Either  or  both  of  these  stocks  may  be  used  for  making 
envelopes,  wrappers,  or  "the  outside"  referred  to  in 
Chapter  VI. 

Occasionally  a  transparent  paper  is  used  either  as  an 
actual  part  of  the  cover  of  a  book  or  as  a  book  jacket  to 


378         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

add  "class"  to  the  book  itself.  "The  Optimism  Book  for 
Offices"  (see  Fig.  15)  made  use  of  the  loose  transparent 
paper  jacket  to  create  a  feeling  of  richness  for  the  beautiful 
three-color  process  work  on  the  cover.  Fig.  15  also  illus- 
trates a  booklet,  "The  Story  of  Silk,"  upon  which  a  trans- 
parent paper  jacket  was  used  to  add  distinctiveness. 

321.  Technical  Terms  Used  in  Referring  to  Paper. — 
Paper  is  usually  quoted  by  the  pound  or  by  the  ream. 
Cover  stocks  are  sometimes  sold  by  the  "sheet."  The 
count  for  a  ream  is  500  sheets. 

In  making  up  specifications  for  ordering  paper  it  is  the 
rule  to  name  the  brand  or  maker,  the  size  of  the  sheet,  the 
weight,  the  finish,  and  the  tint  or  color. 

The  weight  signifies  the  number  of  pounds  to  the  ream. 
For  example,  3  reams  of  Best  Plate  Finish,  25  x  38-80, 
indicates  that  you  require  1500  sheets  of  this  grade,  size 
of  each  sheet  25  inches  x  38  inches,  500  sheets  of  which 
weigh  80  pounds. 

For  sizes,  weights,  and  other  similar  details,  see  Appen- 
dix C. 

322.  Many  Varieties  of  Cover  Papers. — There  are  on 
the  market  innumerable  varieties  of  cover  stocks,  and  new 
ones  are  being  brought  out  from  time  to  time  by  the  paper 
manufacturers.  These  differ  in  colors,  as  well  as  in  finishes. 
The  "finish"  of  a  paper  is  its  surface.  There  seems  to  be 
a  persistent  demand  for  "something  new  in  the  line  of  cover 
papers"  and  the  paper  manufacturers  cater  to  this  de- 
mand. A  few  of  the  generally  used  cover  finishes  are : 
enamel,  antique,  crash,  linen,  plate,  and  marbled. 

Enameled  cover  paper  has  a  smooth  and  polished  sur- 
face for  the  printing  of  half-tone  engravings  from  120-line 
to  200-line  screen  in  some  cases.  This  will  also  take  line 
engravings,  of  course.  It  is  usually  obtainable  in  many 
colors.  This  cover  stock  lacks  strength  and  should  not  be 
used  where  the  piece  is  to  be  subjected  to  severe  handling. 

Antique  cover  papers  have  a  slightly  rough  surface  and 
are  strong  and  durable.  They  are  made  in  many  colors 
and  grades,  and  though  they  will  take  type  and  line  engrav- 


THE  PAPER  STOCK  379 

ings,  will  not,  on  account  of  their  fuzziness,  take  half-tone 
plates. 

Crash  cover  papers  resemble  crash  cloth  in  finish  or  sur- 
face. They  are  made  in  colors  and  will  take  line  engrav- 
ings or  type  when  not  too  small  or  too  heavy  in  color  spots. 

Linen  cover  papers  are  similar  to  crash  except  that  the 
grain  is  much  finer. 

Plate  cover  paper  has  a  hard  polished  surface  that  is 
quite  smooth  and  adaptable  for  half-tones  and  line  engrav- 
ings. It  is  a  widely  used  type  of  cover  paper.  Plate  cov- 
ers are  strong  and  durable  and  thus  supply  what  enameled 
covers  lack. 

Marhlcd  covers  represent  a  wide  range  including  those  pat- 
terned upon  onyx,  or  marble,  and  many  other  novelties  such 
as  flecks  of  gold ;  sunspots  and  shadows,  giving  a  mottled  ef- 
fect such  as  we  often  see  in  the  sky  or  on  the  sea,  and  so  on. 

There  are  cover  papers  which  resemble  wood,  and  even 
metal ;  in  fact,  some  are  made  of  extremely  thin  sheets  of 
wood.  In  selecting  cover  stocks — and  the  cover  stock  is 
often  the  salesman  of  the  rest  of  the  piece — bear  in  mind 
these  specific  questions : 

Who  are  to  get  the  piece? 

Where,  and  under  what  conditions,  are  they  going  to  use  it? 

What  is  the  nature  of  the  product? 

How  mucli  profit  is  there  in  the  sale  of  the  product  ? 

How  long  will  the  piece  be  used? 

Answers  to  these  questions  will  help  you  to  decide  more 
easily  upon  the  color,  texture,  quality,  and  weight  of  your 
cover  stock. 

A  piece  containing  but  a  few  pages  will  be  made  more  im- 
pressive by  adding  a  heavy  cover.  A  request  addressed  to 
a  paper  merchant,  printer,  or  paper  manufacturer  will 
bring,  in  almost  every  case,  a  liberal  set  of  actual  samples 
the  description  and  illustration  of  which  can  only  be  ap- 
proximated in  this  book,  restricted  as  it  is  to  black  and 
white  engravings. 

323.  Varieties   of  Text  Papers   Well   Standardized. — • 


380         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

There  are,  of  course,  several  varieties  of  text  papers  but 
they  are  comparatively  well  standardized.  The  usual 
classifications  of  text  or  body  papers  and  their  sub-classifi- 
cations are:  Bonds,  or  Writings,  including  Linens; 
Ledgers;  Book,  including  Machine  Finish  (M.  F.),  Sized 
and  Supercalendered  (S.  &  S.  C),  Egg-shell,  Offset,  and 
Coated  or  Enameled  Book. 

Bond  papers  are  the  text  or  body  stock  of  most  letters. 
Originally  bond  paper  was  of  a  character  good  enough  for 
the  printing  of  bonds,  therefore  made  of  rags  and  strong 
and  durable  as  well  as  highly  permanent.  To-day  the  term 
"Bond  papers"  includes  those  made  of  wood  pulp  with 
little  or  no  rag.  These  are  very  cheap  in  comparison  with 
the  rag  bond  papers.  Bond  papers  may  be  glazed  (smooth) 
and  unglazed. 

Linen  papers  are  bond  papers  with  a  linen  finish  like  the 
Linen  cover  described  in  the  preceding  section. 

Ledger  papers  are  smooth,  plate  finished ;  originally  they 
were  made  as  sheets  for  ledgers  and  other  account  books, 
but  are  now  used  for  letterheads  and  many  other  direct- 
advertising  purposes.  They  are  more  opaque  than  the 
ordinary  bonds. 

Machine  Finish  and  Sized  and  Supercalendered,  or  M.  F. 
and  S.  &  S.  C,  as  they  are  known,  differ  only  in  finish. 
M.  F.  is  the  cheapest  for  any  work  that  requires  a  finish 
which  will  take  a  half-tone.  S.  &  S.  C.  costs  a  little  more 
than  M.  F.  and  has  a  higher  finish  and  consequently  will 
take  a  half-tone  of  finer  screen. 

For  work  that  must  show  every  detail  of  an  illustration  a 
good  coated  or  enameled  book  paper  should  be  used. 

Egg-shell,  as  the  name  suggests,  has  a  surface  somewhat 
like  the  shell  of  an  egg.  It  is  also  referred  to  as  "Antique 
Wove,"  or  "Antique  Laid,"  as  well  as  "Linen."  The 
antique  has  a  natural  surface  and  the  laid  so-called  laid 
marks,  which  run  very  closely  together  in  the  horizontal  and 
about  one  inch  apart  in  the  vertical  direction  of  the  sheet. 

Offset  papers  are  especially  made  for  the  offset  process 
of  printing  (see  Section  334). 


THE  PAPER  STOCK  381 

For  mailing  cards  varying  thicknesses  (single  and  multi- 
ple) of  hristol  board  are  used. 

It  is  called  bristol  from  the  place  of  its  first  manufacture. 
This  cardboard  is  suitable  for  mailing  cards,  posters,  and 
the  like.  It  is  made  by  pasting  together  several  layers  of 
paper,  the  "ply," — 2,  3,  4,  6,  8,  10,  and  16 — indicating  the 
number  of  layers.  Some  manufacturers  make  a  so-called 
folding  bristol  which  permits  of  folding  without  breaking. 

For  sizes,  weights  and  the  like,  see  Appendix  C. 

324.  Harmonious  Color  Combinations  of  Cover  or  Text 
Stock  and  Inks. — Not  all  colors  of  inks  may  be  effectively 
used  with  all  the  different  colors  of  cover  stocks.  In  Sec- 
tion 300  we  gave  the  primary  and  secondary  colors  and 
these  must  be  followed  in  choosing  harmonious  combinations 
of  colored  stocks,  cover  or  text,  and  the  inks  used  on  them. 

As  one  rule  to  follow,  any  primary  color  may  be  used 
with  that  secondary  color  into  the  composition  of  which  the 
primary  color  does  not  enter.  For  instance,  there  is  no  red 
in  green,  blue  in  orange,  or  yellow  in  purple.  Therefore  use 
red  with  green,  blue  with  orange,  and  yellow  with  purple. 

Paper  Inks 

White:  Crimson  red;  navy  blue;  emerald  green. 

Light  Blue:        Light  red;  dark  blue,  light  yellow,  and  yellow 

brown. 
Dark  Blue:        Dark  red  and  gold;  light  blue  and  white;  green 

and  orange. 
Light  Brown:    Dark  brown  and  silver;  green,  gray,  and  lilac. 
Dark  Brown  :     Black  and  white ;  light  drab ;  orange. 
Light  Green:     Yellow  and  dark  brown;  gold  and  orange;  dark 

green. 
Dark  Green :      Black  and  light  green ;  gold  and  white. 
Light  Gray:       Dark  gray  and  red;  dark  blue  and  gold. 
Light  Red :         Olive  and  gold ;  rich  green  ;  blue  and  white. 
Dark  Red :  White  and  gold ;  dark  green ;  orange  and  dark 

blue. 
Light  Yellow:    Light  blue;  red. 
Black;  Dark  red;  gold  and  white;  light  blue  and  silver, 


382         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

In  carrying  out  this  rule  do  not  use  both  colors  in  light 
tones.  Let  the  blue,  green,  or  purple  be  dark  in  tone  and 
the  orange,  red,  or  yellow  be  light  in  tone. 

The  table  of  combinations  of  paper  and  ink  on  page  381 
will  be  found  helpful  in  studying  color  harmony. 

Of  course  care  must  be  taken  in  selecting  the  tints  and 
shades  to  be  used. 

For  dull-finished  papers  dull  printing  inks,  as  contrasted 
with  glossy  finished  inks,  should  be  used. 

325.  General  Method  for  Figuring  of  Paper  Stock 
for  a  Printing  Job. — In  taking  up  this  section  it  will  be 
necessary  first  to  read  Section  345  explaining  the  "impo- 
sition" of  a  printed  form. 

Assume  as  your  problem  to  find  the  stock  in  pounds  for  a 
64-page  catalogue,  using  25  x  38 — 70  stock,  pages  to  be 
trimmed  to  6  x  9  inches  for  an  edition  of  10,000  copies. 

First  we  must  recognize  that  there  is  an  allowance  for 
trimming  of  ^4  inch  front  and  %  inch  for  top  and  bottom. 
Therefore  6  -f  ^4  '^  ^Vi  inches  and  9  -f  %  ^  9%  inches, 
giving  you  6i/4  x  9%  as  the  untrimmed  page  size. 

4  pages  X  4  pages  on  one  side  of  sheet. 
16  pages  X  2  =  32,  number  of  pages  to  a  sheet. 
64  pages  in  catalogue  -^  32  pages  to  a  sheet  =  2'=  num- 
ber of  sheets  to  a  catalogue.  ~~"  - 

10,000  X  2  =  20,000  sheets,  total  number  needed. 

20,000  -^  500  =  40  =  number  of  reams. 

70  lbs.  X  40  ^  2800  lbs.  =  amount  of  paper. 

In  actual  practice  the  problem  would  be  modified  some- 
what since  an  allowance  must  be  made  for  make-ready  (see 
Section  337)  and  printing  waste. 

326:  Printing-shop  Waste  Allowance. — The  following 
table  shows  the  usual  percentage  of  printing-shop  or  factory 
waste  allowance  to  be  considered  in  connection  with  Section 
324: 


THE  PAPER  STOCK 


383 


Quantity 

First  Color 

Each  Extra 
Color 

Binding 

100-250 

10 

5 

5 

250-500 

6 

4 

4 

500-1000 

5 

21/2 

21/2 

1000-5000 

41/2 

21/2 

2 

5000-10,000 

3y2 

21/2 

2 

10,000-25,000 

21/2 

21/2 

2 

Over  25,000 

2 

2 

2 

Questions  for  Class  Work  or  Review  Purposes 

1.  Why  do  you  suppose  paper  has  not  been  considered  as  a 
factor  ill  planning  direct  advertising? 

2.  Choose  some  business  and  make  suggestions  as  to  surface, 
color,  or  kind  of  paper  which  might  be  used  by  it. 

3.  Give  the  rules  for  selecting  the  proper  paper  stock. 

4.  What  are  "cover"  papers'?     Describe  several  kinds. 

5.  What  are  "body"  papers'?     Define  each. 

6.  Figure  the  stock  needed  for  some  booklet  with  which  you 
are  familiar. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  REPRODUCTION 

I  shall  not  live  to  see  it,  but  I  hope  that  the  time  will  come  when 
the  making  of  a  good  book,  from  the  mechanical  point  of  view, 
will  be  regarded  as  an  achievement  quite  as  worthy  as  the  paint- 
ing of  a  good  picture. — Theodore  Low  DeVixne. 

327.  Classification  of  Methods  of  Reproduction. — The 
principal  methods  of  reproducing  the  original  direct- 
advertising  message,  and  it  is  the  possibility  of  mechani- 
cally multiplying  the  original  message  that  makes  direct 
advertising,  are :  mimeographing,  multigraphing,  printing, 
offset  process,  lithograph}^  photo-gelatin,  steel  and  copper- 
plate engraving,  and  embossing.  In  the  following  sections 
we  shall  take  up  the  definitions  of  these  forms  of  repro- 
duction in  conjunction  with  points  of  interest  to  direct- 
advertising  producers. 

328.  Reproduction  of  Letters  Differs  from  That  of 
Other  Physical  Forms. — Practically  everj^  one  of  the  many 
phj^sical  forms  described  in  Chapter  III  may  be  reproduced 
by  any  one  of  the  methods  listed  in  Section  327.  Letters 
are  occasionally  printed  (see  Fig.  11  C  as  an  example),  but 
it  should  be  noted  that  the  methods  of  reproduction  of  let- 
ters, as  a  rule,  differ  from  those  employed  in  reproducing 
other  physical  forms.  In  addition  to  the  forms  of  repro- 
duction mentioned,  letters  are  occasionally  reproduced  by 
use  of  carbon  sheets — a  method  that  is  slovenly,  to  say  the 
least — by  typewriting,  making  each  letter  an  original,  and 
by  automatic  typewriting.  The  latter  is  accomplished  by  a 
typewriter  which  is  operated  through  a  music-roll  form. 
This  form  is  first  cut  on  the  typewriter  and  then  fitted  to 
the  machine ;  it  operates  the  keys  automatically  afterward. 

384 


THE  REPRODUCTION  385 

This,  too,  makes  each  letter  an  original  and  the. date,  ad- 
dress, and  other  fill-in — it  being  possible  to  stop  the  music- 
roll  at  any  desired  point  and  insert  regularly  typewritten 
words  of  any  nature — exactly  matches  the  rest  of  the  letter 
because  it  is  all  written  on  the  same  machine  by  the  same 
operation. 

It  costs  considerably  more  money  to  reproduce  letters  by 
the  automatic  typewriter  as  compared  with  other  forms  of 
processing,  but  Postage  for  January,  1920,  contains  a 
report  on  the  automatic  typewriter  showing  how  one. firm 
by  sending  out  500  of  these  letters  at  a  cost  of  $60  pro- 
duced 31  one-year  contracts  valued  at  $1,274. 

As  against  this,  one  large  national  advertiser  after  a 
thorough  test  of  the  automatic-typewriter  method  returned 
to  the  other  forms  of  processing  letters  as  paying  more  re- 
turns per  dollar  than  any  other  method  of  reproduction. 

"We  shall  therefore  first  take  up  the  subject  of  repro- 
ducing letters  in  all  its  phases  and  then  take  up  the  other 
methods  of  reproduction  referred  to  in  Section  327. 

329.  Duplicating  Letters. — There  are  two  main  methods 
of  duplicating  or  processing  letters — mimeographing  and 
multigraphing.  Some  few  firms  have  been  quite  successful 
in  printing  regular  typewriter  type  through  a  silk  ribbon 
on  a  regular  or  special  printing  press. 

Mimeographing  is  accomplished  first  by  writing  the  letter 
(or  other  piece  such  as  a  bulletin,  small  internal  or  sales- 
man's house  organ,  or  the  like)  upon  a  specially  prepared 
wax  stencil.  This  is  then  put  on  a  drum,  inked,  and  a  few 
hundred  copies  can  be  run  off. 

It  is  not  the  rule  to  fill  in  mimeographed  letters.  They 
do  not  match  very  closely  actual  typewritten  letters  because 
the  transfer  of  the  type  to  the  stencil  makes  an  entirely  dif- 
ferent looking  impression  when  ink  is  forced  through  that 
stencil  upon  the  paper  to  get  the  mimeographed  reproduc- 
tion. 

Multigraphing  is  accomplished  by  setting  up,  letter  by 
letter,  the  message  to  be  duplicated,  these  characters  being 
set  on  a  drum  and  then  a  ribbon  (inked)  just  like  a  type- 


386         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

writer  ribbon  is  locked  down  over  the  metal  type  and  a  sheet 
of  paper  going  through  the  machine  imprints  the  metal  type 
on  to  the  paper  almost  exactly  like  actual  typewriting. 
The  only  difference,  in  fact,  is  that  in  actual  tj^pewriting 
your  type  strikes  the  paper  a  direct  driving  blow  through 
the  ribbon,  while  in  the  multigraph  the  reproduction  is 
made  by  the  same  kind  of  pressure  you  get  in  rolling  a  lead 
pencil  across  a  sheet  of  paper — the  tops  of  the  letters  of  the 
individual  types  striking  the  paper  first,  the  bottoms  last, 
and  the  bottom  of  the  letter  last. 

By  proper  care  these  letters  can  be  placed  in  a  regular 
typewriter  and  the  address,  date,  and  other  such  ' '  personal- 
izing" features  inserted  so  that  the  finished  letter  is  to  all 
intents  and  purposes  a  personal  letter. 

Fig.  11  D  is  a  multigraphed  filled-in  form  letter. 

The  novice  can  detect  the  difference  between  multigraph- 
ing  and  mimeographing  by  looking  at  the  reverse  side  of 
the  sheet  impressed — in  the  former  the  periods  and  other 
sharp  points  strike  through,  just  as  with  regular  type- 
writing.    This  is  not  the  case  in  mimeographing. 

Multigraphing  is  not  used  in  place  of  printing  to  any 
great  degree,  though  Fig.  100  illustrates  the  outside,  open- 
ing folds,  and  inside  of  a  piece  of  direct  advertising  which 
was  entirely  reproduced  by  this  process. 

It  is  also  possible  to  get  regular  type  attachments  and  do 
actual  printing  upon  a  multigraph  machine,  but  we  need 
not  consider  that  feature  here,  for  it  is  so  used  largely  for 
printing  office  forms. 

330.  Form  Paragraph  Method  of  Duplicating  Letters. 
— It  may  not  be  strictly  a  method  of  duplicating  but  the 
form  or  standardized  paragraph  system  of  replying  to  in- 
quiries comes  near  to  it. 

By  this  system  the  advertiser  has  "standardized"  the 
very  paragraph  that  will  reply  either  to  any  direct  question 
which  may  be. asked,  or  which  will  put  over  in  the  best  pos- 
sible manner  the  selling  point  or  points  of  the  advertisers' 
product.    Each  "form"  paragraph  is  numbered  or  lettered. 

An  inquiry  comes  in,  the  supervisor  of  inquiries  either 


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388     •    EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

reads  it  over  and  marks  the  number  or  letter  of  the 
paragraph  or  paragraphs  which  will  answer  the  inquiry 
and  the  stenographer  or  typist  copies  the  standardized  par- 
agraph from  the  paragraph  book  furnished  her  or,  in  some 


-FROM    THE   IDEA    TO   THE   MAIta" 

Commercial  Letter  Company 
busy  office  regulators 

DIRECT  ADVERTrSING 
MULTI-TYPEWRITING    ADDRESSINO    MAIUNO 
eiTl.  TILtraoNI  -peRSONAUIED"  PRIKTINO 

GRAND  RAPIDS,  MICHISAN 

Aro  you  go- 
ing to  receive  your  pro- 
portion of  the  money  that  will  be 
spent  for  the  coming  Christmas!    Has 
It  cccured  to  you  this  vUl  depend  largely 
on  your  efforta       to  present  your  busi- 
ness by  offer-  ing  a  fev  timely  sug- 
gestions at  the  psychological   no- 
oentl  Can  you  honestly  expect  to 
receive   your  share  of  business 
unless  you  take  an  action  that  will 
entitle  you  to  Itt  Is  there  a  more  for 
cibla  way  to  clinch            a  sale  than  by  show 
Ing  the  buyers  that            their  Interests  are 
jours  also!  Could            you  not  demonstrate 
DOre  clearly  in  a            personal  letter  than 
thru  any  other             fora  of  advertising 
which  Is              addressed  to  nobody 
-«         In  particular!  Have 
you  experienced  the 
difficulty  of  detect 
ing  ^our  mechanical 
—     produce^  letters  from' 
genuine   typewritten 
eopiesi   Do  you  know 
that  the  cost  of  our 
letters  are  but  a 
fraction  of  a  cent 
per  copy!  Bill  you 
call  Oitliens  1116 
4  let  us  convince 
you  that  the  ap- 
pearance of   our 
work  cannot  fail 
to  favorably  im- 
press the  buyer 
you  desire  * 
•to  sell! 
THANKS 

At  your 
service  first, 

last  and  all  the 

time,     COlOiERCIAL 

LETTER  CO.    605. 

06-07  Hurray 

Bldg. 

XCPRODUCCRS  or    BtTTCR    eUSfNCSS   UKTTettS 


Fifj.  101. — A  very  unusual  method  of  reproducing  a  form  letter. 
In  using  such  extremely  "clever"  appeals  one  always  risks  a  possi- 
bility that  only  the  cleverness  of  the  form  will  be  remeiubered 
when  the  buying  impulse  has  been  forgotten, 


THE  REPRODUCTION  389 

cases,  the  typist  is  merely  handed  the  inquiry  and  she 
picks  out  the  proper  paragraph  or  paragraphs  for  the  reply. 

331.  Unusual  Letter  Reproductions. — Most  letters  fol- 
low the  regular  standardized  form  of  a  personal  letter  in 
the  reproduction.  Now  and  then  a  "stunt"  form  of  pres- 
entation can  be  used  effectively,  though  cleverness  in  direct 
advertising  must  be  handled  with  extreme  care,  as  noted 
elsewhere  in  the  volume. 

Fig.  101  is  the  reproduction  of  an  unusual  method  of  re- 
producing. The  producers  of  this  letter  sent  it  just  be- 
fore Christmas  for  the  purpose  of  stimulating  Christmas 
business  from  the  local  retailers,  and  they  report  it  was 
fairly  successful.  Here  then  an  old,  old  mental  message 
was  given  a  new  life  by  an  unusual  method  of  mechanical 
appeal. 

A  New  York  publishing  house  got  out  a  variation  of 
this  when  in  the  middle  of  a  letter  it  inserted  a  paragraph 
that  was  arranged  as  follows: 


"hen 
your 

this 
like 

sales 

start  up 

go 

they 

down 

and 

in 

us 

your 

from 

"biz"- 

—order 

332.  Comparison  of  Results  from  Different  Methods  of 
Reproducing  the  Same  Message. — ''The  Little  School- 
master" of  Printers'  Ink,  June  26, 1913,  told  of  a  test  where 
the  same  message  was  reproduced  in  two  different  ways; 
one,  a  multigraphed  letter  on  plain  white  paper  but  with 
a  handsomely  embossed  letterhead,  and  the  other  a  folder. 
"The  results  showed  that  the  letter,  though  obviously  a 
duplicated  message,  was  the  more  effective  of  the  two. ' '  In 
this  connection  see  also  Section  36. 

333.  The  Fill-in  and  Its  Reproduction. — When  two  or 
more  direct  advertisers  gather  together,  sooner  or  later 
some  one  says:     "Does  it  pay  to  fill  in  form  letters?" 


390         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

This  is  a  moot  point.  It  all  depends  upon  the  copy,  the 
appeal,  the  list,  what  others  are  doing  with  a  similar  list, 
and  a  thousand-and-one  things  modifying  each  case.  We 
have  already  taken  this  up  in  Section  193  and  we  are  now 
concerned  only  in  the  mechanical  methods  of  reproducing 
the  fill-in. 

One  variation,  a  simple  one,  is  to  omit  the  fill-in  entirely 
as  shown  in  Fig.  HE. 

Another  is  to  insert  the  fill-in  with  a  red  ribbon  if  the 
body  of  the  letter  has  been  run  in  a  harmonizing  color. 
Willard  Hall,  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufactur- 
ing Company,  in  Direct  Advertising,  Vol.  4,  No.  3,  said: 
*'I  have  made  repeated  tests  on  letters  sent  out  over  the 
same  mailing  lists  with  a  perfectly  matched  fill-in  and  the 
fill-in  written  in  red,  and  have  found  the  percentage  of 
returns  is,  if  anything,  greater  from  the  red  fill-in. ' ' 

A  variation  of  the  fill-in  is  merely  an  insertion  of  the 
word  ' '  Gentlemen, "  or  "  Dear  Sir, ' '  omitting  all  other 
fill-in. 

Still  another  method  is  to  make  the  fill-in  unnecessary 
by  a  salutation  like  that  shown  in  Section  194. 

The  Buffalo  Specialty  Company,  large  mail-order  sellers, 
reported  at  the  Cleveland  Direct  Advertising  convention 
that  the  omission  of  the  fill-in  caused-them  loss  in  business. 

Charles  Henry  Mackintosh  in  speaking  before  the  same 
convention  told  of  a  test  which  the  La  Salle  Extension  Uni- 
versity had  made.  This  called  not  only  for  the  fill-in  in 
one  case,  but  tlie  addition  of  a  pen-and-ink  signature  in 
place  of  a  processed  one.  The  filled-in  letter  with  the  pen- 
and-ink  signature  produced  352  replies  out  of  1,000  as 
against  220  from  the  commonplace  fill-in  and  signature. 
The  increased  cost  was  less  than  ten  dollars. 

These  few  instances  will  show  how  mechanical  care  will 
improve  returns  from  a  direct-advertising  campaign.  Har- 
rison Mc Johnston,  in  Printers'  Ink,  September  18,  1919, 
makes  this  statement  in  reporting  the  success  of  the  bond 
department  of  one  large  banking  institution:  "Since  this 
policy  of  quality  was  adopted  about  two  years  ago  the  mail 


THE  REPRODUCTION  391 

sales  and  cooperation  division  of  this  bond  department  has 
steadily  increased  its  known  returns." 

334.  Definitions  of  Various  Methods  of  Reproducing 
All  Physical  Forms. — While  of  course  letters  may  be 
printed,  or  reproduced  in  any  of  these  other  forms,  it  is 
not  the  rule,  as  previously  stated,  and  we  shall  now  define 
the  different  methods  of  reproduction  used  for  practically 
every  form  of  direct  advertising. 

Printing  is  the  general  term  used  to  designate  the  prod- 
uct of  any  kind  of  type,  engravings,  etc.,  reproduced  upon 
paper  by  means  of  ink  distributed  by  rollers  upon  the  face 
of  the  type  or  other  hard  surface  to  be  impressed. 

Printing  may  be  in  one  or  more  colors.  The  word 
''printing"  is  often  used  to  describe  almost  any  form  of 
reproduction. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  letterpress  printing.  The  kind 
more  commonly  used  for  producing  catalogues  and  gen- 
eral commercial  work  is  termed  flat-bed  printing.  This  re- 
fers to  the  method  of  printing  from  flat  forms  of  type  or 
plates,  and  may  be  accomplished  either  on  the  cylinder 
type  of  press  or  on  the  platen  type  of  job  press. 

For  Rotary  printing  the  type  matter  is  first  of  all 
electrotj^ped  or  stereotyped  and  formed  into  curved  plates. 
These  are  attached  to  cylinders  on  the  press  over  which  is 
fed  a  continuous  "web"  of  paper  coming  from  a  roll  of 
paper.  The  rotary  presses  work  many  times  faster  than 
the  flat-bed  presses  but  the  quality  is  not  so  good.  This 
form  of  printing  is  much  used  for  books  and  magazines 
and  for  newspapers.  Of  recent  years  the  methods 
have  been  improved  and  some  very  creditable  work  is  now 
being  done  on  rotary  or  web  presses.  This  method  is  now 
being  used  to  some  extent  for  long-run  catalogues.  A  long 
run  is  necessary  because  of  the  heavy  initial  expense  of 
preparation. 

Process  printing  differs  from  regular  letterpress  printing 
only  in  that  one  color  is  printed  over  another,  using  the 
three  primary  colors,  or  the  three  primary  colors  and  black, 
as  the  case  may  be. 


392         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

The  bulk  of  all  direct  advertising  is  reproduced  by  the 
printing  process. 

The  offset  process  might  well  be  called  a  "cross  between" 
letterpress  printing  and  lithography.  It  makes  soft,  beau- 
tiful color  work.  You  can  print  a  half-tone  plate  on  rough 
surfaced  paper  by  this  process ;  but  you  cannot  print  by 
the  offset  process  on  a  high-finished,  smooth,  coated  paper. 

There  are  five  step^  in  the  process:  (1)  The-  original 
which  may  be  engraved  upon  stone  as  in  regular  lithog- 
raphy, or  upon  copper  or  zinc  as  with  any  printing  plate. 
(2)  This  design  is  then  transferred  to  a  zinc  plate.  (3) 
This  zinc  plate  is  put  in  the  offset  press.  (4)  The  impres- 
sion on  the  zinc  plate  is  printed  on  the  rubber-blanket  and, 
finally  (5),  this  blanket  offsets  the  impression  to  the  paper. 

Under  certain  conditions  this  process  is  much  more  eco- 
nomical than  either  letterpress  printing  or  ordinary  lithog- 
raphy. By  this  process  excellent  results  are  obtained  on 
rough  papers  that  are  much  lower-priced  than  coated  stocks. 
Because  of  the  cost  of  the  plates  it  is  quite  expensive  for 
short  runs,  but  for  long  runs  it  is  economical.  The  press 
runs  much  faster  in  producing  offset  than,  regular  printing, 
the  speed  of  production  thus  reducing  the  cost. 

No  set  rule  can  be  stated,  but  in  the  case  of  the  ordinary 
commercial  letterhead  a  "run"  of  50,000  headings  can 
usually  be  produced  by  the  offset  process  as  economically  as 
by  the  letterpress  method. 

In  the  case  of  booklet  covers  in  three  colors,  for  example, 
it  would  take  an  order  of  about  25,000  booklets  (which 
would  mean  75,000  impressions,  considering  the  three  col- 
ors) before  an  offset  cover  could  be  produced  as  economic- 
ally as  a  letterpress  job. 

The  Bond  Bread  and  National  Biscuit  Company  inserts 
on  Fig.  27  are  examples  of  offset  printing. 

Lithography  is  the  method  of  printing  from  specially 
prepared  stones  instead  of  from  metal  plates.  This  process 
is  particularly  adapted  to  the  reproduction  of  pictures  and 
designs  in  colors.  Because  of  the  cost  of  producing  the 
original  designs  upon  the  stone  lithography  is  mainly  used 


THE  REPRODUCTION  393 

for  printing  large  editions  and  especially  the  covers  of 
large  editions  of  catalogues,  booklets,  etc. 

Photo-gelatin  process  printing  is  effected  in  the  follow- 
ing manner :  First  there  is  a  reversed  negative  made, 
sharp  and  clear,  and  developed  as  in  photography.  This  is 
retouched  and  exposed  to  the  sensitized  gelatin  plate,  which 
has  been  prepared  by  reducing  gelatin  (an  animal  tissue) 
to  a  liquid,  sensitizing  it,  and  laying  it  on  a  plate  glass 
about  five-eighths  of  an  inch  thick.  This  is  then  put  into 
an  oven  and  hardened.  The  reversed  negative  is  placed 
against  the  sensitized  gelatin  and  exposed  to  the  sun  in  a 
printing  frame.  After  the  exposure  has  been  made  the 
chemicals  are  washed  out  and  the  plate  is  dried — this  is 
now  ready  for  the  press. 

Photo-gelatin  as  a  means  of  illustrating  is  peculiarly 
adapted  to  fine  reproductions  of  paintings,  wash,  pen-and- 
ink,  pencil  drawings,  photographs,  maps,  manuscripts, 
silver,  cut  glass,  metal  goods,  and  catalogues  where  exact 
reproduction  is  required.  No  "screen"  is  used  in  this 
process  and  it  is  valuable  for  use  in  short  runs. 

Steel  engraving,  used  largely  for  bank  notes,  certificates, 
bonds,  commercial  letterheads,  business  cards,  and  the  like, 
is  produced  from  steel  plates  and  dies  engraved  by  the 
intaglio  process,  the  printing  characters  of  which  are  sunk 
helow  the  surface  of  the  plate  or  die.  Steel  dies  are  used 
where  longer  runs  are  to  be  made.  Copper  dies  will 
not  withstand  as  much  wear  and  tear. 

Copper-plate  engravings,  used  for  similar  purposes  to 
steel  engravings,  are  made  in  a  similar  manner  except  that 
the  engraving  is  upon  a  copper  plate.  The  announcement 
on  Fig.  20  B  of  tlie  New  York  Glohe  is  an  example  of  cop- 
per-plate engraving. 

Embossing  is  the  method  of  producing  relief  effects  upon 
paper  by  subjecting  it  to  mechanical  pressure  between 
dies.  For  the  best  results  dies  usually  have  to  be  heated, 
in  which  case  it  is  called  hot  embossing.  Covers,  especially 
titles  of  catalogues,  booklets,  and  the  like,  are  often  hot 
embossed.     If  there  is  no  printing  prior  to  the  embossing; 


394        EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

that  is,  if  merely  the  paper  itself  is  raised  to  show  the  let- 
ters, it  is  termed  hlmd  embossing. 

Hot  stamping  is  a  variation  of  hot  embossing ;  it  is  used 
as  a  means  of  smoothing  out  an  antique  or  rough-surfaced 
paper  so  that  half-tones  may  be  printed  upon  it.  Some- 
times this  hot  stamping  is  used  to  sink  the  paper  and  per- 
mit the  tipping  on  of  another  sheet  of  paper  with  the  design 
printed  upon  it,  as  was  described  in  connection  with  the 
cover  of  "The  Optimism  Book  for  Offices,"  in  Fig.  15. 

335.  Unusual  Reproductions. — One  unusual  method  fol- 
lowing the  reproduction  of  the  cover  of  a  booklet  is  to  run 
it  through  a  machine  which  will  "pebble"  it.  This  often 
adds  a  peculiar  charm  to  the  completed  job. 

Still  another  method  is  that  by  which  a  piece  of  direct 
advertising  is  produced  in  colors  and  then  varnished  to  give 
the  design  a  "live"  appearance.  The  varnish  adds  to  the 
effectiveness  of  the  piece. 

Questions  fob  Class  Work  or  Review  Purposes 

1.  Name  the  different  methods  of  reproducing  direct  advertis- 
ing mechanically.  ■ 

2.  Which  method  is  used  in  the  main?     Why? 

3.  Describe  the  various  methods  of  duplicating  letters  and 
choose  specimens  of  each. 

4.  Choose  from  any  available  pieces  of  direct  advertising  ex- 
amples of  all  the  different  methods  of  reproduction. 

5.  If  possible,  visit  a  printing  establishment  and  see  how  print- 
ing is  done.  Write  up  your  visit  for  the  purpose  of  impressing 
it  upon  your  memory. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

HANDLING  THE  DIRECT-ADVERTISING  REPRODUCTION 

Cecil's  dispatch  of  business  was  extraordinary,  his  maxim 
being:  ''The  shortest  way  to  do  many  things  is  to  do  only  one 
thing  at  once." — Smiles, 

336.  Reproduction  of  Multigraphed  and  Mimeographed 
Direct  Advertising  a  Simple  Process. — There  is  little  to 
consider  on  the  subject  of  multigraphing  and  mimeograph- 
ing beyond  that  set  forth  in  Section  329.  It  should  be 
noted  that  the  stencil  itself  is  proof-read  in  the  case  of 
mimeographing  and  a  proof  of  the  set-up  form  read  in  the 
case  of  multigraphing.  It  should  also  be  noted  that  while 
any  form  of  typewritten  work  may  be  underscored  as  this 
word  is  underscored,  because  the  reproduction  is  made  by 
a  stencil,  in  the  case  of  multigraphing  a  single-spaced  re- 
production can  only  be  underscored  where  the  line  under- 
scored is  the  last  line  of  a  paragraph,  or  where  an  extra 
space  is  allowed  between  that  paragraph  and  the  next  one. 
In  other  words,  on  the  multigraph  (unlike  the  typewriter 
itself,  and  in  this  particular  it  affords  the  only  difference 
between  multigraphing  and  typewriting,  purely  from  the 
mechanical  angle)  it  requires  an  entire  line  of  space  to  un- 
derscore either  a  single  letter,  a  word,  or  more. 

The  steps  in  the  reproduction  of  even  a  simple  print- 
ing job  are  much  more  complex,  as  will  be  found  in  Section 
337. 

337.  Steps  in  a  One-color  Four-page  Inclosure  Repro- 
duction.— Few  laymen  and  certainly  not  all  advertisers 
know  the  many  steps  that  even  an  ordinary  one-color,  un- 
illustrated  four-page  inclosure  may  require  in  its  reproduc- 
tion.    These  steps  are  as  follows: 

395 


396         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

1.  Preparing  the  copj^,  layout,  etc. 

2.  Ordering  the  stock. 

3.  Setting  up  the  type  matter. 

4.  Having  this  O.K.'d. 

5.  Locking  up  the  forms, 

6.  Putting  these  on  the  press. 

7.  Mixing  the  ink,  if  not  a  standard  color. 

8.  Making-ready  the  forms  before  printing. 

9.  Getting  the  O.K.  on  "press  proof"  before  actual  printing. 

10.  Running  the  job. 

11.  Slip-sheeting,  if  necessary. 

12.  Letting  the  sheets  dry. 

13.  Running  them  through  the  folder. 

14.  Trimming  them. 

15.  Tying  the  inclosures  into  bundles  or  putting  them  in  boxes. 

16.  Delivery  to  the  customer. 

If  plates  are  used  and  a  hair-line  register  required  a  num- 
ber of  extra  steps  are  added. 

(a)  Make-ready  is  the  name  given  to  the  operation  of 
preparing  a  form  of  type  so  that  a  good,  clear  and  uniform 
impression  will  be  the  result.  Make-ready  of  a  form  con- 
taining plates  is  usually  more  expensive  than  of  a  form 
containing  tyipe  only  since  a  great  deal  of  overlaying,  under- 
laying, etc.,  is  required.  The  printer  takes  care  of  the  en- 
tire operation,  but  it  is  one  of  the  big  items  of  cost  in  a  job, 
aside  from  stock,  composition,  etc. 

(&)  Slip-sheet iiig  is  the  "interleaving,"  or  slipping  in  of 
an  absorbent  sheet  between  the  sheets  as  they  come  from  the 
press  so  that  the  wet  inks  may  not  smudge  or  mar  the  pre- 
ceding sheet.  This  is  not  often  necessary  unless  a  hard- 
surfaced  paper  is  used,  or  a  job  in  several  colors  is  rushed 
through  the  press. 

(c)  Trimmmg  is  the  cutting  down  of  the  printed  and 
folded  sheets  to  the  size  which  the  customer  ordered.  See 
Section  485  showing  allowance  for  "trim."  Trimming  is 
done  by  the  printer  with  a  power  paper  knife. 

338.  Following  the  Job  Through  the  Shop. — Fig.  102, 
shown  by  the  courtesy  of  the  House  of  Ilubbell,  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  illustrates  graphically  the  steps  of  a  more  complex 


HANDLING  THE  REPRODUCTION 


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Fig.  102. — The  steps  of  a  complex  printing  job. 

printing  job  than  are  described  in  Section  337.  Note  how 
the  five  sections  of  the  operations  slowly  work  down  until 
we  reach  the  finished  catalogue  or  other  bound  book.  This 
will  be  found  especially  helpful  in  checking  up  steps  in  any 
job  under  way. 

There  are  several  steps  not  illustrated  on  this  chart,  more- 
over.    "Breaking  for  color,"  as  the  printer  speaks  of  it,  is 


398      •  EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

an  operation  that  is  necessary  when  two  or  more  colors  are 
used  in  a  job.  Blank  spacing  material  is  inserted  to  fill  up 
the  space  where  color  str.ikes  in  the  dark  form,  and  vice 
versa.  To  "break"  sixteen  pages  for  color  will  usually 
take  from  four  to  eight  hours,  one  printer  tells  us. 

To  "lock  up"  the  forms  requires  from  four  to  six  hours, 
and,  if  there  are  three  colors,  proportionately  much  longer. 

"Make-ready"  was  defined  in  Section  337,  but  in  follow- 
ing the  job  let  us  note  that  it  would  require  from  three  to 
fifteen  hours  to  make  ready  a  form  of  sixteen  pages,  one 
color,  according  to  the  number  and  quality  of  plates. 

Actually  to  run  the  form  through  the  presses  would  re- 
quire from  twelve  to  eighteen  hours  to  print  10,000  copies, 
for  example,  and  a  similar  length  of  time  would  be  neces- 
sary for  each  form — the  color  and  the  dark  form. 

To  set  up,  even  on  a  machine,  the  "average"  32-page 
booklet,  with  a  page  size  of  5x8,  would  require  about 
eight  or  ten  hours. 

To  insert  this  machine-set  body  matter  into  the  page  form, 
tog'ether  with  any  plates,  captions,  panels,  tables,  borders, 
etc.,  would  require  from  15  minutes  to  an  hour  or  more  per 
page  according  to  the  complexity  of  the  job. 

All  these  figures  are  at  best  approximate  to  give  an  idea 
of  the  actual  time  necessary  for  a  reproduction  to  go 
through  the  average  shop. 

339.  Short  Cuts  in  Handling  Big  Jobs. — Of  course  if 
the  job  which  you  are  having  printed  is  a  simple  four-page 
inclosure,  or  a  sixteen-page  booklet  or  the  like,  following  the 
copy,  pictures,  decorations,  covers,  engravings,  and  other 
steps  is  a  simple  routine  the  details  of  which  may  well  be 
carried  in  your  head.  Fig.  66  shows  the  successive  steps 
employed  by  one  firm  in  preparing  a  small  catalogue.  A 
much  more  elaborate  method  of  handling  must  be  followed 
where  the  catalogue  or  other  piece  runs  to  many  pages 
illustrated  Math  a  large  number  of  plates,  some  of  which 
have  to  be  made  from  drawings,  some  from  photographs, 
perhaps  none  of  which  is  ready  when  the  copy  is  sent  to 
the  printer. 


HANDLING  THE  REPRODUCTION  399 

Fig.  103  illustrates  the  planning  board  used  by  V.  E. 
Pratt  in  getting  out  a  1700-page  mail-order  catalogue,  as 
described  in  Mailhag  for  April,  1919.  This  is  a  short  cut 
to  the  proper  handling  of  a  big  job  without  which  there 
would  be  untold  confusion.  In  order  to  simplify  this  de- 
scription (and  the  illustration  in  Fig.  103)  we  shall  con- 
sider only  a  120-page  booklet,  though  the  principle  is  un- 
changed for  a  larger  number  of  pages. 

Our  first  move  is  to  get  120  one-inch  cup-hooks  for  the 
board;  then  120  each  two-inch  colored  "garment"  tags  as 
they  are  termed,  in  the  following  ten  colors^  to  indicate 
conditions  shown: 

1.  White  =  Nothing  started. 

2.  Blue  =  Plates  ready. 

3.  Green  =  Page  ready  for  printer. 

4.  Lavender  =  Page  in  hands  of  printer. 

5.  Orange=First  proof  of  page  received. 

6.  Yellow  =  Page  gone  back  for  first  revise. 

7.  Red  =  Second  revise  proof  received. 

8.  Violet  =  Second  revise  sent  back  not  O.K. 

9.  Pink  =  Used  for  additional  proofs. 

10.  Black  =  Page  O.K.'d  and  ready  for  press. 

Fig.  103  also  illustrates  the  tags,  cup-hook,  and  how  they 
are  operated  upon  the  board. 

Mount  these  hooks  on  a  board  in  rows  of  sixteen  or 
thirty-two  pages — depending  upon  how  many  pages  your 
printer  will  print  in  each  "signature."  Each  row  will 
then  represent  one  whole  signature,  and  you  must  be  sure 
to  use  the  pages  bearing  the  numbers  he  will  make  up  into 
that  signature  so  that  "Signature"  one,  for  example,  can 
be  printed  while  you  work  on  "Signature"  two,  and  so  on. 

Hang  your  ten  tags,  one  of  each  color,  on  the  hooks  in 
the  order  of  colors  mentioned  in  preceding  paragraph,  black 
on  the  bottom. 

Number  your  hooks,  on  the  board,  1  to  120,  as  indicated. 

"We  now  start  with  120  white  tags  facing  us,  representing 
that  number  of  white,  or  blank,  pages.  As  the  pages 
progress  we  note  the  date  on  the  tags,  and,  as  the  next  step 


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komooD 


ummumnmu    j^SSSBSSS 


*0 


a5 


M  ">5 

5    o 

3  M  '-< 

^!« 


5B 


eS   Qi   S 

c  o  o 


2  ~ 

5  -  .2  ^" 
c  c^-^ 
■*  Jr,  o  +j 

^^  ?  '-  a* 
(u  ~        be 


pS  S 


T3.5   (=^^ 

« .-  >,  '^ 

-a    S    CS    oj 


"^  c  « 


400 


HANDLING  THE  REPRODUCTION  401 

is  taken,  the  old  tags  are  taken  off  until  the  black  tags  are 
visible,  indicating  that  the  pages  are  ready  for  the  press. 
When  a  solid  row  of  black  tags  appears,  that  signature  is 
ready  to  be  printed.  It  has  been  O.K. 'd  for  the  last  time 
by  the  advertiser.  In  Fig.  103  one  signature  is  all  ready, 
except  two  pages.  The  tags  which  are  taken  off  the  top  are 
put  on  the  bottom  in  Mr.  Pratt's  system,  so  they  are  avail- 
able for  future  reference  as  a  complete  file  of  the  individual 
pages. 

Any  number  of  colored  tags  could  be  used  just  as  well  as 
ten,  additional  ones  being  added  for  further  proofs,  electro- 
typing,  and  the  like,  and  the  general  principles  of  this  sys- 
tem may  be  applied  to  any  individual  problem. 

340.  Preparation  of  Correct  Copy  Necessary  for  Eco- 
nomical Reproduction. — If  every  one  who  started  to  pre- 
pare copy  for  the  printer  bore  in  mind  the  steps  outlined 
in  Section  337  he  would  see  to  it  that  the  copy  which  was 
sent  to  the  printer  was  as  nearly  correct  as  possible.  It  is 
an  old  story,  but  none  the  less  true,  that  all  too  often  adver- 
tisers start  to  rewrite  the  copy  after  they  see  it  in  proof 
form.  This  involves  additional  costs  charged  as  ''author's 
corrections."  Often  the  revised  copy  is  longer  than  the 
original,  or  shorter,  in  which  case  the  plan  of  the  entire 
piece  may  have  to  be  modified.  Pages  may  have  to  be  re- 
planned,  reset,  and  the  costs  are  multiplied. 

Copy  written  in  an  illegible  handwriting  runs  the  cost 
up  enormously,  for  you  pay  for  the  time  of  the  compositor, 
proofreader,  and  others,  in  addition  to  the  time  of  the 
machine  operator  who  struggled  to  have  it  put  into  type. 
Every  time  they  meet  in  "conference"  to  decide  whether 
a  word  is  "time"  or  "true,"  for  instance,  you,  the  adver- 
tiser, pay  for  it. 

Write  all  the  copy  on.  the  typewriter  if  possible,  on  one 
side  of  the  sheet,  and  all  on  the  same  sized  sheets  for  ease  in 
handling. 

Remember  that  every  single  change  you — the  advertiser, 
"author" — make  in  proof  costs  you  money.  As  this  is 
written  the  cost  varies  from  $3  to  $5  per  hour.     A  single 


402         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

comma  may  require  that  a  line  be  reset.  Resetting  a  line 
may  upset  a  whole  paragraph.  A  paragraph  upsets  a  page, 
and  a  page  the  book.  You  order  italic  captions.  You  get 
the  proof  and  do  not  like  their  looks.  You  order  a  change. 
That  is  an  author's  correction  and  you  pay  for  it. 

If  this  section  could  drive  home  to  every  reader  the  abso- 
lute necessity  of  having  the  copy  correct  before  it  is  sent  to 
the  printer  to  be  set  up,  it  will  save  the  reader  the  cost  of 
the  book  on  any  job  running  to  a  hundred  dollars  or  more. 

Write  your  copy  correctly  at  first,  typewrite  it. 
make  no  changes  in  proof  that  are  not  absolutely 

necessary.  EXPECT  TO  PAY  FOR  THESE  CHANGES  IN  AD- 
DITION TO  THE  PRINTERS '  ORIGINAL  ESTIMATE. 

(a)  Estimating  Typewritten  Copy.  To  determine  the 
number  of  lines  a  piece  of  typewritten  copy  would  make 
when  set  in  any  certain  face  and  measure  of  type,  the 
United  Typothetae  of  America  gives  its  members  the  fol- 
lowing rules : 

First,  ascertain  the  average  length  of  the  typewritten  line 
in  picas. 

Second,  count  the  number  of  such  lines.  If  there  is  a 
large  number  of  pages  get  an  average  of  the  number  of  lines 
to  a  page  and  multiply  by  the  number  of  pages. 

Third,  get  the  length  of  the  type  line  in  picas. 

Fourth,  decide  upon  the  size  and  kind  of  type  to  be  used 
for  the  set-up. 

Fifth,  multiply  the"  average  length  of  the  tj^pewTitten  line 
by  the  number  of  such  lines.  This  will  give  the  amount  of 
typewritten  copy  in  picas. 

Sixth,  divide  the  figure  so  obtained  by  the  number  of  picas 
in  the  length  of  the  type  line.  The  result  will  be  the  number 
of  lines  of  typewritten  copy  the  same  length  as  the  type 
line  is  to  be. 

Seventh,  multiply  the  result  by  the  percentage  Mgure  as 
shown  by  the  accompanying  table  for  the  size  and  kind  of 
type  to  be  used.  The  final  result  will  be  the  number  of  lines 
of  type. 

Example:  Twenty  pages  of  12-point  typewritten  cop^- 
with  an   average  of  forty  lines  to   the  page.     The   average 


HANDLING  THE  REPRODUCTION 


403 


length  of  the  lines  is  40  picas.     To  be  set  20  picas  wide  in 
8-point  Goudy. 

20  X  40  =      800,  the  number  of  typewritten  lines. 
800  X  40  =:  32,000,  the  number  of  picas  of  typewritten 
copy. 
32,000 -f- 20=  1,600,  the  number  of  typewritten  lines  the 
same  length  as  the  type  line  is  to 
be. 
The  percentage  as  shown  by  the  table  for  8-point  Goudy 
is  55  per  cent. 

1,600  X -55  =  880.00    or   880    lines   of    8-point   Goudy 
type,  20  picas  wide. 

(b)  Percentages  of  Various  Sizes  of  Caslon,  Scotch 
Roman  and  Goudy  Set  from  10-  and  12-Point  Typewriter 
Type  Copy. 


Hi 

PER    CENT 

Caslon  old  Style 
6:   8:   10:   12:   14:   18 

Scotch  Roman 

Goudj 

6:   8:   10:   12:   14:   18 

6:    8:    10:    12:    14:    18 

12 
10 

.43.54.66.80     .90.118 
.50  .63  .78  .95  .106  .140 

.43.53.66.80     .95.117 
.57  .62  .79  .97  .112  .131 

.45  .55  .66  .79     .95  .125 
.55  .67  .78  .94  .110  .146 

(c)  Estimating  Number  of  Words  Set  in  Various  Sizes 
OF  Body  Type: 

The  table  on  page  404  shows  the  approximate  number  of 
words  to  the  square  inch  in  various  sizes  of  body  type, 
leaded  and  solid,  and  will  be  helpful  in  estimating  the 
number  of  pages  required,  or  words  needed. 

341.  The  Layout  and  the  Dummy. — A  layout  is  a 
planned  arrangement  sent  to  the  printer  together  with  the 
copy  so  that  he  may  follow  it  in  setting  up  your  direct- 
advertising  piece.  A  dummy,  though  the  term  is  often  a 
synonym  of  layout,  ordinarily  is  a  rough  duplicate  of  what 
the  finished  piece  will  be  as  to  weight,  shape,  make-up,  etc. 

Fig.  104  illustrates  a  rough  layout  of  two  pages  of  a 
broadside,  for  example,  from  the  pen  of  John  H.  Clayton, 
"dummy"  specialist.  This  could  be  sent  to  the  printer 
with  the  illustrations,  trade-mark,  signature  plates  (called 
"logotypes"),  and  the  printer  could  then  intelligently  re- 
produce the  ideas  of  the  maker  of  the  layout. 


404        EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


Words  to  tite  Square  Inch 


.5  cj 

•5:3 

OF-l 

.5:2 

00 

00  hJ 

£3 

^k1 

1 

(59 

50 

47 

34 

32 

23 

21 

16 

14 

11 

2 

138 

100 

94 

68 

64 

46 

42 

32 

28 

22 

4 

276 

200 

188 

130 

128 

92 

84 

64 

56 

44 

6 

414 

300 

282 

204 

192 

138 

126 

96 

84 

66 

8 

552 

400 

376 

272 

256 

184 

108 

128 

112 

88 

10 

690 

500 

470 

340 

320 

230 

210 

160 

140 

110 

12 

828 

600 

564 

408 

384 

276 

252 

192 

168 

132 

14 

966 

700 

658 

476 

448 

322 

294 

224 

196 

154 

16 

1104 

800 

752 

544 

512 

368 

336 

256 

224 

176 

18 

1242 

900 

846 

612 

576 

414 

378 

288 

252 

198 

20 

1380 

1000 

940 

680 

640 

460 

420 

320 

280 

220 

22 

1518 

1100 

1034 

748 

704 

506 

462 

352 

308 

242 

24 

1656 

1200 

1128 

816 

768 

552 

504 

384 

336 

264 

26 

1794 

1300 

1222 

884 

832 

598 

546 

416 

364 

286 

28 

1932 

1400 

1346 

952 

896 

644 

588 

448 

392 

308 

30 

2070 

1500 

1410 

1020 

960 

690 

630 

480 

420 

330 

32 

2208 

1600 

1504 

1088 

1024 

736 

672 

512 

448 

352 

34 

2346 

1700 

1598 

1156 

1088 

782 

714 

544 

470 

374 

36 

2484 

1800 

1692 

1224 

1152 

828 

756 

576 

504 

396 

The  above  table  shows  the  number  of  words  contained  in  one  or  more 
square  inches,  both  leaded  and  solid  (leaded  having  two  points  between 
the  lines).  In  writing  copy  all  words  composed  of  twelve  or  more  letters 
should  be  counted  as  two  words. 


Without  a  layout  the  printer  might  set  up  the  pages  in 
such  a  way  as  to  require  resetting  at  a  cost  which  would 
be  eliminated  entirely  by  guidance  of  a  simple  layout.. 

A  dummy  of  a  catalogue,  for  example,  contains  the  num- 
ber of  pages  to  be  used,  the  weight  of  paper  chosen,  the 
kind  of  cover  stock,  and  each  of  the  pages  of  the  dummy 
may  have  a  "layout"  so  that  the  dummy  also  acts  as. a  lay- 
out for  the  printer. 

The  layout  is  a  guide  to  the  compositor,  the  dummy  is 
the  "blue-print"  for  both  advertiser  and  printer.  It  en- 
ables the  advertiser  to  judge  what  the  finished  job  will  look 
like  and  the  printer  to  deliver  most  readily  what  is  wanted. 

Unless  the  printer  has  a  dummy  and  a  layout  it  will  be 
necessary  to  submit  galley  proofs — the  type  being  placed  on 


HANDLING  THE  REPRODUCTION 


405 


got  "Jitst  Selliacj 


Buyers  of  Prirvtino  H»w 
fburul  IT  PAY5 


Today  We  Offer  fhe  Bayer 
of  Phntino 


5ALE5 


A>  IA7*  KaiWe 


LOGAN  PRINTING 
HOUSE. 


cjnia  no  Mf^ot.  »jhthiitfH\/iil 


Fig.    104. — The   rough   layout  which   visualizes   the   finished   piece 
not  only  to  the  printer  but  also  to  the  prospective  buyer. 

long  trays  or  galleys  and  proved  on  a  proof  press — and 
made  up  into  pages  afterwards.  Every  additional  proof 
means  an  additional  charge,  of  course. 

Sometimes  with  proofs  of  engravings  layouts  of  pages 
are  made  and  these  pasted  in  the  final  dummy  of  the  book, 
catalogue,  or  other  piece.  Likewise  clippings  from  adver- 
tisements, stories,  and  the  like  may  be  used  to  make  the 
layout  more  realistic.  Colored  pencils  are  often  used  to 
suggest  color  treatment  in  the  finished  work. 

342.  Reading  the  Proof. — Fig.  105  illustrates  the  meth- 
ods of  marking  a  proof  and  every  reader  of  this  work  will 
find  it  advisable  to  become  familiar  with  these  marks  and 
how  to  apply  them.  Printers  generally  use  them;  indeed, 
any  other  method  of  marking  may  be  misunderstood.  All 
marks  should  be  made  in  the  margins ;  if  the  line  is  a  wide 
one  mark  the  corrections  for  the  right  side  of  the  line  on 
the  right  margin,  for  the  left  on  the  left-hand  margin. 

Beginners  should  be  warned  against  O.K.'ing  proofs  on 
their  own  responsibility.  Even  able  and  accomplished  ad- 
vertising men,  knowing  how  all  are  prone  to  be  poor  proof- 
readers of  their  own  "copy,"  make  a  practice  of  getting  a 


406 


EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


'6he  Marking  o/  Proof 


The  Mark 


Mark  in  Proof 


Meaning  of  Mark 


i 


JUT.. 


He  bought  the  boo|^k 
He  bought  the  book 
His  bookf  and -Whereas 
iju  He'^hc\bought^book 
jtaiLO  He  bought  the  book 
Arruc<   H|.  bought  the  book 
<xyz4/  He  boup:ht  the  book 
,A/07rLaru  He  bought  the  book 
'^   ^   He  bought  the^^book^^ 
V    A   He'^boughtysthe^book 
X,x>/.   He  bought  the  |^k 
^  He  bought  thebook 
O    He  bought  the  book . 
Jitt^b   He  bought  4hc  book 
9    He  bought  the  book 
^  Hcjbought  the  book 
>J'  He  bought  Johi^  book 
X   He  bought  the  wx)k 
/-/    A  registered  trademark 
D  .  He  bought  the  book 
C^T)   He  brought  the  book 
L   L  He  bought  the  book 
O  He  bouglit  the  book 


take  out 

wrong  font  letter 

make  para^aph 

transpose 

put  in  italic 

small  capital 

capitals 

put  in  roman 

quotation  marks 

even  spacing 

lower  case  letter 

space 

period 

let  stand   ' 

invert 

push  down  space 

apostrophe 

broken  letter 

hyphen 

indent  em  quad 

query  to  author 

bring  to  mark 

close  up 


Fig.  105. — Whether  or  not  you  have  a  good  proofreader  at 
your  command,  it  is  a  good  thing  for  you  to  know  how  to 
mark  a  proof.  The  marks  of  correction  shown  above  apply 
to  almost  all  the  errors  that  are  apt  to  occur  in  printers' 
proofs  of  direct-advertising;  matter. 

number  of  extra  proofs  of  an  important  work,  such  as  a 
catalogue,  and  of  having  a  set  of  these  proofs  read  and 
O.K.  'd  by  authoritative  officials  of  the  concern  for  which  it 
is  produced,  especially  having  the  engineering  department 


HANDLING  THE  REPRODUCTION  407 

check  measurements,  details  and  the  like,  and  so  on  where 
the  piece  describes  a  mechanical  product. 

343.  O.  K.  of  Technical  Details. — Printed  matter  is  as- 
sumed to  be  authoritative  and  every  producer  of  direct 
advertising  owes  it  therefore  to  the  profession  to  see  that, 
before  any  technical  data  are  published,  they  have  been 
0.  K.'d  by  an  "authority." 

Extreme  care  must  be  used  to  see  that  figures,  sizes,  di- 
mensions, and  the  like  appear  correctly  in  a  printed  cata- 
logue or  booklet. 

See  Chapter  XX  as  to  0.  K.  of  postal  regulations. 

344.  Copyrighting  the  Printed  Reproduction. — It  is  not 
necessary  to  copyright  direct  advertising,  but  doing  so 
often  frightens  off  those  who  would  plagiarize  and,  more 
than  that,  frequently  gives  the  book  a  higher  value  in  the 
eyes  of  the  recipient. 

By  the  copyright  you  secure  the  exclusive  right  to  the 
contents  of  the  direct  advertising — if  original.  Any  one 
who  infringes  may  be  prosecuted. 

Application  for  copyright  should  be  made  to  the  Regis- 
trar of  Copyrights,  Washington,  D.  C,  who  will  furnish  a 
copy  of  the  law  and  regulations  and  the  proper  blanks.  All 
direct  advertising  which  is  copyrighted,  to  be  entitled  to 
the  protection,  must  bear  the  notice  "Copyright,  19 — ,  by 

,"  on  the  front  page,  or  title  page,  of  the  publication, 

or  approximately  in  the  same  position  if  in  other  than 
booklet  form.  Inmmediately  after  publication  two  copies 
of  the  piece  must  be  filed  in  the  Copyright  Office.  The  cost 
of  a  copyright  application  is  $1.00,  which  includes  a  certifi- 
cate. 

345.  What  Is  Meant  by  "Imposition." — Imposition,  in 
the  printers'  language,  has  reference  to  the  arrangement  of 
the  pages  in  such  a  way  that  they  will  print  in  proper  po- 
sitions on  the  flat  sheet,  so  that  when  this  is  folded  the  page 
numbers  or  folios  will  run  in  proper  sequence. 

The  name  comes  from  the  fact  that  the  form  or  forms — 
where  more  than  one  color  as  previously  explained — are 
first  placed  within  a  metal  frame  known  as  a  "chase"  which 


408         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

lies  flat  on  the  ''imposing"  stone.  This  form  is  tightened 
or  ''locked-up"  by  the  use  of  mated  wedge-like  metal 
pieces  called  "quoins." 

Imposition  is  not  a  simple  thing  to  learn,  and  yet  to 
figure  paper  stocks  accurately  (see  Section  325)  one  must 
have  a  rudimentary  knowledge  of  it. 

Let  us  consider  a  four-page  inclosure  in  order  to  make  it 
easy  to  understand.  This  may  be  printed  from  two  forms 
of  two  pages  each,  pages  1  and  4  being  printed  from  one 
form,  a  second  form  being  used  to  print  pages  2  and  3  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  sheet  (see  Fig.  106).  When  a 
sheet  is  printed  in  this  manner  it  is  said  to  be  printed 
.'' sheet-wise,"  and  each  printed  sheet  will  make  one  com- 
plete inclosure.  It  will,  therefore,  require  only  1000  im- 
pressions on  each  side,  or  2000  impressions,  to  make  1000 
complete  inclosures. 

If,  instead  of  printing  from  two  forms  of  two  pages  each, 
the  four  pages  are  arranged  in  one  form  and  a  sheet  twice 
the  size  of  the  first  sheet  is  used,  being  printed  first  on  one 
side,  then  turned  end  for  end  and  printed  on  the  opposite 
side,  the  process  is  called  " work-and-turn"  handling  (see 
Fig.  106).  Each  printed  sheet  is  cut  in  two  and  makes 
two  complete  inclosures.  This  will  require  only  1000  im- 
pressions to  make  1000  complete  inclosures. 

The  beginner  should  clearly  understand  that  when  a  sheet 
is  printed  "work-and-turn,"  the  form  is  twice  the  size 
of  the  form  if  the  same  number  of  pages  is  printed  in  two 
forms  "sheet-wise."  The  press  is  printing  twice  the  num- 
ber of  pages  each  impression,  and  thus  cuts  the  number  of 
impressions  in  half. 

In  any  regular  forms  the  pages  that  fall  together  (also 
referred  to  as  "folios")  will  total  one  more  than  the  num- 
ber of  pages  in  the  form,  as  l-)-4  =  5;  3  +  2  =  5; 
1  4- 16  =  17 ;  8  +  9  =  17. 

The  same  principles  are  involved  whether  a  sheet  con- 
tains four  pages  or  sixty-four  pages,  and  it  is  well  for  the 
beginner  to  practice  with  four  pages,  both  sheet-wise  and 


Four  Pages  Printed  Sheetwise 

Outside  *  Inside 


As  the  pages  would 
appear  in  the  form 


3  2 


As  the  pages  would 
appear  in  the  form 


4  1 


As  pages  would  appear 
on  the  printed  sheet 


2  3 


As  pages  would  appear 
on  the  printed  sheet 


Four  Pages  Printed  Work  and  Turn 


z 

e 

do  J, 

do.L 

Top 

Top 

1 

4 

As  the  pages  would 
appear  in  the  forni 


s 

Z 

do.l. 

dox 

Top 

Top 

4 

1 

As  pages  would  appear 
on  the  printed  sheet 


Fig.  106. — ^These  sets  of  miniature  pages 
with  their  respective  captions  will  explain 
graphically  the  difference  between  four 
pages  run  "sheet-wise"  and  those  printed 
"worlc  and  turn." 


409 


410         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

work-and-turn,  until  he  understands  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples. 

346.  Sizes  of  Machinery  for  Reproductions. — There  are, 
of  course,  many  special  sizes,  but  in  the  main  it  will  be 
found  that  the  following  sizes  are  "standard"  or  "regu- 
lar." 

The  maximum  size  of  sheet  that  can  be  put  through  a 
regular  office  mimeograph  is  81/2  x  14  inches,  with  a  print 
surface  of  about  7  x  14  inches. 

The  maximum  size  sheet  for  the  regular  office  multigraph 
is  the  same  as  for  the  mimeograph,  but  the  actual  print 
surface  is  about  8x14  inches. 

Job  presses  range  from  the  small  size  taking  a  chase  of 
8  X  12  and  a  sheet  of  about  the  same  size  (though  a  sheet 
6  X  10  inches  will  work  better)  for  printing  envelopes  and 
small  cards,  to  the  14  x  22  inch  size  for  ordinary  half-tone 
work,  covers,  scoring,  cutting,  embossing,  etc.  There  is 
also  a  10  X  15  inch  chase  size  which  will  take  sheets  of  that 
size  though  a  9  x  12  will  work  better,  used  largely  for 
printing  letterheads.  There  is  also  a  12  x  18  size  chase  job 
press. 

Tlie  Kelly  press  is  a  job  press,  too,  but  very  fast,  and  is 
fed  automatically.  It  takes  a  17  x  22  chase  for  which  the 
15  x  20  sheet  is  about  ideal. 

Cylinder  presses  run  from  a  minimum  size  of  about  22  x 
34  to  an  occasional  44  x  64  inch  size.     The  usual  sizes  (there 
are  more  variations  in  cylinder-press  sizes  than  in  job-press 
sizes)  are  for  taking  the  25  x  38  and  32  x  44  inch  sheets. 
The  pony  cylinder  will  handle  line-cuts  and  small  half- 
tones advantageously.     It  is  22  x  34  inches  in  size. 

347.  Knowledge  of  Mechanical  Problems  Often  Means 
Saving  in  Costs. — The  beginner  might  think  there  is  no 
need  of  paying  attention  to  these  mechanical  problems  in 
reproduction.  The  fact  is  that  frequently  savings  may  be 
made  by  utilizing  this  information.  Four  different  pieces 
may  be  made  up  and  run  on  one  sheet  at  the  same  time, 
later  cut  up  and  folded  to  separate  sizes,  if  desired,  making 
a  saving  in  cost  of  press  work. 


HANDLING  THE  REPRODUCTION 


411 


Figs.  107  and  108,  respectively,  show  how,  by  knowing 
the  mechanical  reproduction  problems,  ''waste"  of  book 
paper  (25x38)  and  cover  paper,  respectively,  may  be 
avoideTd  and  almost  "free"  inclosures  or  postal  cards  se- 
cured out  of  the  portion  saved.  These  figures  also  illus- 
trate the  possibilities  of  cutting  more  than  one  piece  out  of 
the  same  sheet. 


5   t>AOC  3ViX  6:!^  FOliOER    it 


3  PA^E  5.HX  2;*  FOLDER 


38- 


Fig.  107. — How  }ou  can  save  the  waste  even  in  the  standardized 
25  X  38  sheet  of  paper  is  indicated  here.  A  similar  economy  can 
often  be  efTected  in  other  sheets  and  sizes,  of  course.  Confer  with 
your  printer  and  make  these  savings. 

374A.  How  to  Order  Printing. — Appendix  F  gives  the 
standardized  form  of  ordering  printing  and  should  be  re- 
ferred to  in  this  connection. 

348.  Two  Main  Types  of  Folding  Machines. — There  are 
two  main  types  of  folding  machines.  One  folds  by  use  of 
knives  and  the  other  by  friction.  The  former  is  largely 
used  for  book  work  folding  16  and  32  pages  in  right-angle 
folds.  The  latter  is  used  for  folding  pamphlets  and  smaller 
catalogues,  inclosures,  folders,  etc.  Neither  will  handle 
die-cut  pieces  as  a  rule  and  all  such  special  folds  must  be 
made  by  hand, 


412         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


Fig.  108. — The  plan  adopted  here  is  similar  to  that  conveyed  in 
Fig.  107,  but  in  this  case  cover  stock  has  been  used  and  a  double  pur- 
pose served.  The  return  card  is  a  match  with  the  cover  of  the 
house  organ  since  it  is  printed  at  the  same  time  and  from  the  same 
sheet,  at  a  saving  in  paper  and  presswork. 


Questions  for  Class  Work  or  for  Review  Purposes 

1.  Describe  the  steps  in  the  reproduction  of  a  multigraphed 
job ;  a  printed  job. 

2.  In  your  own  words  tell  of  Mr.  Pratt's  system  of  handling 
a  big  printing  job  through  the  advertiser's  office. 

3.  Why  is  there  so  much  necessity  that  the  first  copy  be  correct? 

4.  Make  a  rough  layout  of  a  broadside  page.     A  dummy  of  it. 

5.  Read  and  mark  with  proofreader's  ma-rks  any  sheet  or  sheets 
you  can  find  errors  in. 

Q.  What  connection  is  there  between  imposition  and  the  order- 
ing of  paper?  Make  up  a  four-page  form  and  number  the 
pages;  show  the  forms  both  sheet-wise  and  work-and-tum. 

7.  How  can  knowledge  of  mechanical  reproduction  be  used  to 
advantage? 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

ADDRESSING  AND  DISTRIBUTING 

It  is  the  Age  of  Machinery^  in  every  outward  and  inward  sense 
of  that  word. — Carlyle. 

349.  Addressing — "The  Neck  of  the  Bottle."— By  far 

the  larger  portion  of  direct  advertising  is  delivered  to  the 
person  intended  by  means  of  the  United  States  mails,  either 
from  direct  or  indirect  distribution,  as  we  shall  see  in  Sec- 
tion 357.  The  addressing  of  the  piece,  therefore,  is  the 
"neck  of  the  bottle"  of  direct  advertising.  If  that  part 
is  not  rightly  done,  all  that  has  gone  before  may  be  waste 
effort.  In  a  public  address  D.  A.  Campbell,  formerly  post- 
master of  Chicago,  said:  "Forty-three  per  cent  of  the 
mail  handled  by  the  Chicago  post-office  is  wrongly  ad- 
dressed. Believing  that  their  particular  firms  are  univer- 
sally known,  business  men  advertise  without  giving  their 
business  street  address.  They  send  letters  without  writing 
the  street  address  on  the  envelope.  Over  1000  Chicago 
firms  use  'Chicago'  only  as  a  mailing  address.  Looking 
up  addresses  and  seeing  that  such  mail  is  properly  directed 
costs  the  Chicago  post-office  $85,000  a  month." 

Honorable  John  C.  Koons,  first  assistant  postmaster  gen- 
eral, in  addressing  the  Cleveland  Advertising  Club,  in  May, 
1920,  said  :  ' '  Twenty -two  million  letters  reach  the  dead- 
letter  office  each  year,  which  cannot  be  delivered  because 
they  are  so  improperly  or  incorrectly  addressed  that  we 
cannot  locate  the  addressee.  Many  times  that  number  go 
to  the  directory  section  and  are  given  the  directory  service 
which  delays  their  delivery  from  twelve  to  twenty-four 
hours. ' ' 

Correct  addressing  not  onlv  is  necessary,  but  it  pays. 

413 


414         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

• 

Consider  the  statistics  reported  to  the  Detroit  conven- 
tion by  B.  A.  Dahlke,  of  the  Dahlke  Stationery  &  Manufac- 
turing Company,  Buffalo,  showing  that  for  five  months  in 
succession  a  test  of  extra  carefully  handwritten  addresses  as 
compared  with  poorly  written  ones  showed  30  per  cent 
increase  in  favor  of  the  carefully  written  ones. 

350.  Four  General  Methods  of  Addressing. — Four 
methods  of  addressing  are  generally  used:  (1)  Writing 
by  hand;  (2)  typewritten;  (3)  by  means  of  paper  stencil 
addressing  machines,  and  (4)  metal-plate  addressing  ma- 
chines. 

All  of  these  methods  serve  useful  purposes,  and  for  our 
treatment  in  this  chapter  we  shall  assume  that  the  name  and 
address  are  correct  in  every  particular,  as  set  forth  in  Chap- 
ter IV.  In  writing  to  some  prospects,  a  handwritten  ad- 
dress (perhaps  in  feminine  handwriting)  is  more  useful 
than  any  other  form. 

In  addressing  business  men  on  the  grade  of  paper  known 
as  papeterie  (wedding  announcement  stock),  for  example, 
feminine  handwriting  adds  piquancy  to  the  piece.  In  writ- 
ing what  appears  to  be  a  personal  note  from  one  man  to 
another,  one  woman  to  another,  or  sometimes  from  one  sex 
to  the  other,  a  handwritten  address  adds  the  necessary 
** personal"  touch. 

Likewise,  firms  with  large  addressing-machine  equipment 
find  upon  occasion  that  it  is  worth  while  to  address  certain 
envelopes  individually  upon  the  typewriter  to  get  a  per- 
sonal touch  that  cannot  be  secured  from  the  very  best 
machine-made  address. 

Where  speed  is  essential  machinery  is  necessary  to  handle 
the  addressing.  Parenthetically,  one  of  the  worst  faults 
of  direct  advertisers  is  an  overweening  desire  for  speed 
and  more  speed.  We  are  ** speed"  mad.  We  are  obsessed 
with  the  idea  that  we  must  get  100,000  mailing  pieces  into 
the  mails  in  the  morning  or  as  many  prospects  will  pass 
away  from  ennui,  when  as  a  matter  of  fact  99,999  of  them 
would  still  live  probably  if  we  never  mailed  out  that  piece 
of  advertising. 


ADDRESSING  AND  DISTRIBUTING  415 

(a)  Handwritten  addresses  are,  of  course,  always  pro- 
duced with  pen  and  ink.  The  average  person  likes  a  little 
contrast  and  the  enormous  amount  of  machine-addressed 
mail  reaching  the  average  man.  these  days  causes  a  hand- 
written address  to  stand  out. 

(&)  Typewritten  addresses  should  always  be  written  on 
each  piece  individually,  though  occasionally  publications 
make  three  or  four  carbon  copies  of  the  first  mailing  sticker 
and  utilize  these  carbons  (on  gummed  paper,  as  a  rule) 
for  further  mailings.  Such  an  address  never  contains  the 
quality  appeal,  however. 

Until  recently  experts  recommended  the  paper-stencil 
machine  for  lists  to  be  used  only  a  few  times,  in  preference 
to  the  metal  plates  for  the  metal-plate  machines  which  were 
more  costly.  Now  that  the  one  firm  making  practically  all 
of  the  metal-plate  machines  has  evolved  and  popularized  a 
smaller  and  much  cheaper  metal  plate,  this  difference  has 
vanished. 

(c)  The  paper-stencil  machine  operates,  broadly  speak- 
ing, on  the  principle  of  the  mimeograph.  A  cut-out  "sten- 
cil" is  made  on  a  prepared  sheet  of  paper  held  in  a  paste- 
board frame.  The  ink  then  operates  through  this  stencil  to 
produce  the  address. 

{d)  The  metal-plate  machine  involves  the  principle-  of 
the  typewriter  or  raultigraph.  The  plate  is  embossed,  not 
cut-out,  and  the  letters  stand  up  above  the  rest  of  the  plate 
as  do  the  characters  on  a  typewriter.  This  plate  then  is 
operated  through  a  ribbon,  a  duplicate  of  a  typewriter  rib- 
bon, to  make  the  address  upon  paper,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
multigraph  or  typewriter. 

Experience  shows  that  unless,  as  a  rule,  you  will-  have 
to  address  a  list  five  times  or  more  within  a  year  it  is  not 
economy  to  invest  in  an  addressing  machine. 

351.  Either  Paper  Stencils  or  Metal  Plates  May  Be  In- 
dexed.— Both  handwritten  and  typewritten  addresses  must 
be  done  over  and  over,  except  where  written  in  carbon,  and 
this  requires  a  separate  card  index  or  sheet  to  be  kept  on 
file  as  the  original  list.     This  original  list,  is,  of  course,  de- 


416         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

sirable  in  the  ease'  of  the  paper-steneil  and  metal-plate  ma- 
chines, though  not  necessary.  In  both  cases  the  plates  may 
be  had  with  ''frames"  that  permit  of  indexing  upon  them 
the  rating,  business  secured,  follow-up,  etc. 

In  the  case  of  the  addressograph  (metal-plate)  machine 
an  automatic  system  of  selecting  prospects  by  means  of  a 
series  of  metal  tabs  inserted  on  the  top  edge  of  the  frame 
makes  a  further  saving  in  handling  large  lists. 

The  cost  of  typewriting  addresses  is  from  $3.00  to  $4.00 
per  thousand,  varying  according  to  the  place  where  it  is 
done.  By  use  of  the  addressograph  the  cost  ^s  only  a  few 
cents  per  thousand,  not  including  the  cost  of  the  original 
plates  which,  of  course,  automatically  reduces  the  total 
cost  every  time  the  list  is  used.  The  rate  of  production 
per  day  is  about  750  to  1000  on  the  typewriter  as  against 
15,000  to  20,000  on  the  addressograph.  The  paper-stencil 
machine  has  about  the  same  rate  of  production  as  the  ad- 
dressograph. 

The  addressograph  can  be  used  to  secure  an  almost  per- 
fectly matched  fill-in  in  connection  with  the  multigraph, 
when  care  is  used. 

Both  paper-stencil  and  metal-plate  machines  may  be  had 
for  operation  by  hand,  foot,  and  electric-power. 

352.  Using  the  Mails  for  Distribution  Purposes. — The 
mails  are  used  for  distribution  purposes  in  two  ways:  (1) 
Direct  mailings,  and  (2)  indirect  distribution.  In  the  for- 
mer the  piece  is  sent  direct  to  the  possible  prospect,  while 
in  the  latter  instance  the  piece  is  inclosed  with  other  mail 
as  with  a  letter  or  a  house  organ,  etc.,  and  distributed 
through  a  cooperative  mailing  plan,  or  reaches  the  prospect 
in  an  indirect  way. 

If  we  are  mailing  direct  there  are  three  important  things 
to  be  considered  in  addition  to  the  postal  rules  and  regula- 
tions set  forth  in  Chapter  XX;  and  these  are:  (1)  If 
your  mailings  are  large  it  will  be  necessary  to  assort  your 
pieces  just  as  the  post-office  would.  Put  the  pieces  for  Il- 
linois all  together,  perhaps  even  separating  Chicago,  and 
tying  thesiB  into  bundles  by  cities  and  towns,  inserting  them 


ADDRESSING  AND  DISTRIBUTING  417 

in  bags  furnished  by  the  post-office  and  then  delivering 
these  marked  bags  direct  to  the  post-office.  This  method 
eliminates  almost  interminable  delay  which  would  other- 
wise ensue  in  the  local  post-office. 

(2)  The  timing  of  mailings  will  have  to  be  worked  out 
with  the  post-office  department,  both  locally  and  at  the 
offices  where  the  mails  are  to  be  delivered. 

(3)  Method  of  prepaying  postage  will  require  much  con- 
sideration. There  are,  in  the  main,  two  problems  here: 
whether  you  will  use  stamps  or  the  permit.  If  stamps, 
whether  regular  stamps  which  have  to  be  cancelled  or  pre- 
cancelled  stamps.  If  you  wish  to  use  precancelled  stamps, 
see  Section  378.  If  you  are  to  use  regular  stamps,  it  will 
be  necessary  to  decide  whether  to  use  first-class  or  third- 
class  methods  of  payment ;  that  is,  whether  for  an  ordinary 
circular  you  will  use  one-cent  or  two-cent — mail  the  en- 
velope- unsealed  or  sealed. 

Occasionally  special  delivery  or  registered  mailings  have 
been  found  to  be  highly  profitable  (see  Section  353). 

The  subject  of  first-class  versus  third-class  mailings  is  so 
important  that  we  shall  take  it  up  separately  in  the  succeed- 
ing section. 

353.  First-class  versus  Third-class  Mailing. — There  can 
be  absolutely  no  iron-clad  rule  laid  down  for  this  prob- 
lem which  may  be  followed  by  every  business  under  every, 
condition.  It  would  be  as  impossible  as  to  answer  the 
query:  "Which  is  the  better,  to  send  out  salesman  dressed 
in  blue  serge  or  gray  tweeds?" 

The  personal  factor,  the  list,  what  else  is  going  to  the 
list  from  yourselves,  from  competitors,  the  time,  the  offer, 
the  surrounding  conditions — all  make  it  absolutely  impos- 
sible to  decide  such  a  question  offhand.  In  Section  201 
we  adverted  to  this  same  fact. 

Here  is  what  one  retailer  wrote  Selling  Aid,  of  Chicago, 
on  this  subject:  "If  the  literature  in  the  envelopes  is  the 
right  kind,  I  am  sure  that  exactly  as  many  replies  will  be 
had  under  one-cent  postage  [as  under  the  two-cent  post- 
age]." 


418         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

To  illustrate  the  way  opinion  sways  us  in  our  judgments, 
the  late  George  L.  Louis,  who  made  a  life-study  of  selling 
to  retailers,  said  at  the  Chicago  Direct  Advertising  Con- 
vention: "I  send  out  no  third-class  literature."  At  the 
Cleveland  convention  the  following  year,  Lloyd  Mansfield 
of  the  Buffalo  Specialty  Company  said,  referring  to  the 
president  of  the  company:  "His  principle  in  going  out  to 
the  trade  all  over  the  country  is  to  use  one-cent  mail.  He 
has  tried  both  a  number  of  times.  He  can  make  more 
money  l)y  the  use  of  one-cent  than  two-cent  mail.  Per- 
haps he  will  get  a  few  more  responses  through  the  two-cent 
mail,  but  the  responses  do  not  make  up  the  difference  in 
cost."    They  use  the  so-called  "pennysaver"   envelopes. 

A.  J.  Reiss  of  the  Sherwin-Williams  Company,  Cleve- 
land, at  the  same  convention  corroborated  Mr.  Mansfield's 
remarks,  in  saying:  *'We  use  the  pennysaver  envelopes  (a 
patented  envelope  giving  the  appearance  of  a  sealed  en- 
velope but  open  to  inspection  at  the  end  and  mailable  at 
third-class  rate)  with  the  green  (one-cent)  stamp.  We 
liad  formerly  used  the  two-cent  stamp,  but  we  found  by 
actual  test  that  the  one-cent  stamp  gave  us  just  as  good 
results. ' ' 

After  all  is  said  and  done  Mr.  Reiss  hit  the  nail  on  the 
head  when  he  advocated  "actual  test" — test  out  one-cent 
vs.  tiva-cent  on  your  own  proposition  and  determine  for 
yourself  what  you  should  use. 

As  a  general  rule  it  may  be  safely  observed  that  the 
selection  of  eitlier  first-class  or  third-class  mail  is  largely 
dependent  upon  the  self-interest  value  of  the  appeal  con- 
tained within.  ]\Iost  mail  will  get  opened ;  if  self-interest 
is  not  within,  the  fact  that  it  arrived  with  first-class  privi- 
leges will  not  recommend  it. 

The  standing  and  character  of  the  firm  making  the  mail- 
ing also  have  an  effect  upon  the  choice  of  class  to  be  used. 
A  third-class  piece  from  John  D.  Rockefeller,  or  the  Stand- 
ard Oil  Company,  will  likely  be  opened  whereas  one  from 
elohn  Doe  or  the  Flybynight  Oil  Company  might  be  put  at 
rest  in  the  willow  morgue  post-haste. 


'       ADDRESSING  AND  DISTRIBUTING  419 

Likewise,  people  who  get  very  little  mail,  or  who  have 
inquired  for  the  material  you  send,  will  likely  pay  little 
attention  to  the  color  of  the  stamp  which  brings  the  reply. 
See  also  Section  382  as  to  mailing  first  and  third  class  to- 
gether. 

Marketing  for  March,  1920,  reports  an  interesting  test 
made  by  William  A.  Hersey,  of  Robert  H.  Ingersoll  & 
Brother,  wherein  2500  pieces  were  mailed  out  under  first- 
class  postage.  These  offered  for  sale  a  stock-keeping  system 
to  jewelers.  The  mailing  cost  four  cents  each.  Then  2500 
additional  pieces  were  sent  to  prospects  as  nearly  of  the 
same  class  as  was  possible  to  secure.  The  pieces  were 
identical  in  every  respect  except  that  a  pennysaver  envelope 
was  used  for  the  third-class  mailing  (which  cost  two  cents 
each  on  account  of  weight).  The  results  were  that  the 
first-class  mailing  brought  just  one  more  reply  than  the 
third-class. 

Those  interested  in  following  this  matter  further  are 
referred  to  Postage  for  September,  1920,  page  335.  Here 
Russell  B.  "Williams  deduced  the  rule  that  if  you  are  using 
perfectly  filled-in  personalized  letters  use  two-cent  (first- 
class),  and  if  you  are  using  circulars  mail  under  one-cent 
(third-class)  rates.  The  rule  comes  from  a  series  of  tests 
which  are  reported  in  detail. 

Frequently  in  order  to  emphasize  the  appeal  first-class 
mailings  are  sent  special  delivery,  or  registered,  and  occa- 
sionally both  special  delivery  and  registered. 

Printers'  Ink,  August  28,  1919,  tells  how  Ralph  E.  Dyar, 
a  Spokane  newspaper  man,  by  use  of  a  special  delivery  sales 
letter  to  A.  H.  Woods,  the  theatrical  producer,  sold  the 
play,  "A  Voice  in  the  Dark." 

Stock-selling  concerns  frequently  make  use  of  the  special 
delivery  and  registered  mail  idea  to  impress  either  the  need 
for  haste  or  the  value  of  their  offering,  or  both.  The  idea 
can  be  adapted  by  other  businesses. 

354.  Stamping  the  Return  Card. — It  is  also  an  open 
question  whether  stamping  the  return  card  is  profitable. 
The  list,  self-interest  of  the  proposition,  and  all  the  other 


420 


EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


factors  are  almost  the  same  as  in  the  case  of  the  mail  going 
out.  Merritt  Lum,  circulation  manager  of  A,  W.  Shaw 
Company,  is  the  authority  for  the  statement  that  from  a 
series  of  tests  he  found  putting  a  stamp  on  the  return,  pre- 
paying the  reply,  brought  95.4  per  cent  additional  replies. 
Manufacturers  and  wholesalers  showed  the  greatest  in- 
crease, with  bank  cashiers,  retailers,  and  lumber  dealers  in 
order,  respectively.  Real-estate  operators  showed  the  least 
gain. 

Frank  T.  Buerck,  at  the  Detroit  convention,  made  this 
interesting  contribution  to  the  subject  in  hand :  "I  sent 
out  a  series  of  letters,  on  a  sample  book,  my  first  letter  going 
out  with  an  unstamped  card — the  returns  were  less  than 
5  per  cent,  that  is,  requests  for  the  sample  book.  I  then 
sent  out  another  series  of  letters  with  one-cent  postcard  and 
the  returns  requesting  the  book  were  25  per  cent." 

355.  A  Helpful  Table  for  Figuring  Mailing  Cost. — Of 
course  a  dummy  can  be  made  up,  weighed,  and  the  cost  of 
mailing  estimated  accurately,  though  occasionally  there  may 
be  slight  variations.  The  following  table  worked  out  by 
Paul  D.  Van  Vliet  of  the  Universal  Portland  Cement  Com- 
pany, reproduced  here  through  courtesy  of  Printers'  Ink, 
shows  how  this  may  be  worked  out  in  advance  even  to  the 
ink: 


Size  op  Booklet  6"  x  9" 


Body  Stock 

Weight  of  Finished  Inside  Forms; 

Ounces  Each 


Size  of  Paper     Wt.        4  pgs.       8  pgs.     16  pgs.      32  pgs.   64  pgs. 


38"x50" 

100 

.182 

.363 

.727 

1.455 

2.91 

120 

.218 

.437 

.874 

1.748 

3.49 

140 

.255 

.51 

1.02 

2.04 

4.08 

150 

.272 

.545 

1.091 

2.183 

4.36 

160 

.291 

.582 

1.165 

2.33 

4.66 

190 

.327 

.655 

1.31 

2.621 

5.24 

200 

364 

.729 

1.457 

2.915 

5.83 

ADDRESSING  AND  DISTRIBUTING        421 


Size  of  Paper 

wt. 

Cover  Stock 

Ink 

20" X  25" 

40 

.276 

16  pgs.     .012  ozs. 

« 

45 

.32 

32    «       .024    « 

<( 

50 

.345 

64    «       .048    « 

« 

55 

.38 

« 

60 

.415 

« 

65 

.45 

it 

70 

.484 

Envelope 

u 

75 

.52 

Standardized 

u 

80 

.553 

Weight   .4075   oz. 

u 

85 

.588 

u 

90 

.622 

u 

95 

.656 

(( 

100 

.69 

Suppose  we  guess  that  we  want  body  stock  of  160  pounds 
and  cover  stock  of  70  pounds  for  a  booklet  of  72  pages  and 
cover,  this  is  what  we  would  learn  from  the  table : 

64  pages — 160  pounds 4.66    ozs. 

8  pages — 160  pounds 582 

Cover  70  pounds 484 

Envelope 4075 

Ink,  64  pages 048 

Ink,  8  pages  additional 006 


6.1875  ozs. 

This  would  be  over  the  mailing  weight  unless  we  wished  to 
add  an  extra  stamp,  so  to  get  the  weight  under  6  oz.  we 
would  drop  to  150-pound  body  stock,  and  to  increase  the 
cover  weight  a  trifle  to  add  more  "class,"  we  would  get 
these  figures : 

64  pages — 150  pounds    4.36 

8  pages  additional 545 

Cover  80  pounds 553 

Envelope   4075 

Ink,  64  pages 048 

Ink,  8  pages  additional 006 

5.9195 


422         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

356.  Cooperative  Mailings. — Cooperative  mailings, 
though  not  the  rule,  are  accomplished  by  sending  all  of  the 
mailing  pieces  from  several  different  concerns  to  one  cen- 
tral headquarters  and  there  having  them  mailed  to  the  list. 
One  cooperative  mailing  which  reached  the  writer  contained 
this  mass  of  varied  appeals :  Department  store,  tailor, 
butter  shop,  bakery,  bank,  oil  stock,  and  three  different 
specialties.  No  doubt  cooperative  mailings  can  be  worked 
out  especially  among  non-competing  and  supplementary 
lines,  but  they  require  careful  planning  and  execution. 

357.  Methods  of  Distribution  Other  Than  the  Mails. 
— Direct  advertising  is  just  beginning  to  come  into  its  own. 
The  distribution  other  than  by  mail  is  yet  in  its  infancy. 
Here  are  a  few  of  the  methods  of  distribution  other  than  by 
mail:  (1)  Through  dealers,  agents,  or  other  distributors; 
(2)  By  house-to-house  distribution — where  not  contrary  to 
local  statutes;  (3)  At  exits  of  theaters,  factories,  and  other 
places  where  crowds  emerge;  (4)  With  packages  of  all 
kinds,  as  inserts,  and  special  wrappers  (see  Section  78)  ; 
(5)  With  theater  programs  and  other  similar  carriers;  (6) 
With  soap  wrappers  furnished  to  practically  every  large 
hotel  for  distribution  to  guests  to  carry  a  direct  advertise- 
ment of  the  maker;  (7)  With  jackets  or  special  covers  for 
booklets,  which  are  being  used  more  and  more  as  carriers  of 
direct  advertisements;  (8)  By  means  of  the  telegraph — 
many  campaigns  are  using  the  telegraph  as  a  carrier  of 
direct-advertising  messages;  (9)  At  conventions  of  all 
kinds,  as  well  as  special  meetings,  banquets,  etc.;  (10)  By 
racks  furnished  to  distributors  so  they  can  in  turn  easily 
distribute  their  packages  to  prospects  without  using  the 
mails,  (11)  with  proper  care,  to  and  through  school  children 
and  (12)  Gummed  paper  tape  bearing  on  the  ungummed 
side  an  advertising  message  is  being  frequently  used  these 
days  by  manufacturers,  wholesalers,  and  others  to  put  their 
messages  before  ultimate  users  and  consumers  at  practically 
no  expense.  The  manufacturer  or  other  user  of  this  form 
of  DIRECT  advertising  distributes  tape-sealing  machines 
to  -printers,  grocers,  druggists,  and  others  and  then  peri- 


ADDRESSING  AND  DISTRIBUTING  423 

odically  supplies  these  distributors  with  re-fills  of  tape, 
which  is  used  by  the  distributor  in  sealing  packages, 
bundles,  etc.,  carried  away  and  delivered  to  users  and 
consumers. 

Since  the  preceding  paragraph  was  put  in  type  we  have 
come  across  still  another  method  of  distribution,  which  is 
cooperative.  The  Beechnut  Packing  Company  make  a 
package  holding  three  samples  of  Beechnut  Mints,  which 
are  imprinted  on  the  wrapper  with  the  name  of  some  local 
store  desiring  advertising.  This  local  store  then  distributes 
them  by  placing  packages  near  the  proverbial  toothpick 
container  in  restaurants.  By  this  plan  the  manufacturer 
apparently  shares  the  cost  of  sampling  with  the  local  mer- 
chant whose  name  and  business  are  imprinted  on  the 
wrapper. 

The  Statler  hotels  in  New  York,  Butfalo,  Cleveland, 
Detroit  and  St.  Louis  have  still  another  unusual  method  of 
distributing  direct  advertising.  They  slip  under  the  door 
of  every  guest  each  morning  a  daily  newspaper  to  which  is 
tipped  a  circular  advertising  special  menus,  etc.  They 
distribute  in  this  way  in  excess  of  two  million  pieces  a  year. 

358.  Value  of  Attention  to  Details. — The  issue  of  Print- 
ers' Ink  for  April  18,  1918,  contained  the  anonymous  con- 
fession of  a  mail-order  advertiser  emphasizing  the  necessity 
and  value  of  paying  attention  to  little  details.  He  found, 
for  example,  that  he  got  more  returns  when  the  return  card 
was  put  inside  of  the  folded  letter  before  that  was  placed 
within  the  envelope  than  when  the  card  was  inserted  in  the 
envelope  separate  from  the  letter.  B.  A.  Dahlke,  addresls- 
ing  the  Detroit  convention,  told  of  test  letters  sent  out  to 
prove  the  importance  of  this  point.  He  sent  5,000  test 
letters  with  loose  inclosures  and  5,000  where  the  inclosure 
was  neatly  clipped  to  the  letter  itself.  The  mailings  were 
carefully  divided  into  territories,  so  that  each  mailing  was 
exactly  the  same  as  to  class  of  names  and  kind  of  territory. 
The  one  with  the  inclosure  clipped  to  the  letter  brought 
in  appreciable  increases  in  returns,  from  20  per  cent  up. 
The  number  of  inclosures  must  also  be  watched  with  care. 


424        EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Enough  should  be  inclosed  to  tell  the  story,  but  not  enough 
to  annoy  and  thus  antagonize  the  prospect. 

Again,  it  may  be  repeated:  Names  and  addresses  must 
always  be  spelled  correctly. 

Other  "don'ts"  which  should  be  kept  before  those  ad- 
dressing direct  advertising  are : 

Don't  be  stingy  with  your  typewriter,  multigraph,  or  ad- 
dressing-machine ribbons  or  ink — a  faintly  printed  address 
is  hard  to  read.  It  makes  a  poor  impression.  Poor  impres- 
sions do  not  often  sell  goods, 

Don 't  be  careless  in  folding  the  inclosures  or  letters. 

Don't  fail  to  take  into  consideration  your  prospect  in  de- 
ciding upon  the  mailing  and  upon  the  reply  to  be  sent.  For 
example,  the  Woman's  Institute,  Scranton,  Pa.,  selling  en- 
tirely by  mail,  in  reply  to  an  inquiry  sent  in  from  maga- 
zine advertising  immediately  sent  that  inquirer  a  two-page 
letter  and  three  booklets,  believing  that  the  inquirer  is  more 
interested  at  that  moment  than  she  will  be  at  any  other 
time.     See  Section  222  (a)  on  this  same  point. 

Questions  for  Class  Work  or  for  Review  Purposes 

1.  Name  the  four  general  methods  of  addressing  and  describe 
each. 

2.  Give  as  many  different  methods  of  distribution  as  you  can. 

3.  Give  in  your  own  words  your  ideas  formed  upon  one-cent 
versus  two-cent  mailings. 

4.  Why  are  details  of  addressing  and  distributing  important? 
Enlarge  upon  the  text  if  you  can.  Many  other  points  might  be 
brought  out. 

5.  Write  makers  of  addressing  machines  for  booklets. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE  RECORDS 

But  facts  are  chiels  that  winna  ding, 

And   daurna   be   disputed. — Robert   Burns. 

359.  Three  Classes  of  Records  to  Be  Kept  in  Ordinsiry 
Campaign. — In  the  average  direct-advertising  campaign 
there  are  three  main  classes  of  records  to  be  kept,  aside 
from  keeping  a  record  of  the  total  advertising  appropria- 
tion, the  amount  expended  to  date,  the  unexpended  balance, 
and  the  many  different  forms  of  daily,  weekly,  monthly, 
quarterly,  semi-annual,  and  annual  inventories  of  stocks 
on  hand: 

1.  A  record  of  the  cost  of  each  individual  piece  in  a  cam- 

paign, including  printing,  mailing,  postage,  etc. ; 

2.  A  record  of  the  returns  which  it  produced  in  inquiries  or 

orders,  or  both,  including  returns  from  any  follow-up 
instituted;  and 

3.  A  record  of  all  tangible  things  used  to  make  up  the  printed 

pieces ;  that  is,  location  of  drawings,  photographs,  en- 
gravings, etc. 

360.  A  Simple  Method  of  Keeping  Up  with  the  Ap- 
propriation.— In  order  to  keep  a  simple  record  of  the 
appropriation  and  its  exact  status,  all  that  is  necessary,  as 
a  rule,  is  to  have  a  monthly  record.  This  can  be  done  by 
ruling  a  card  or  sheet  with  one  column  for  the  direct  adver- 
tising issued,  one  for  the  total  appropriation,  followed  by 
two  additional  columns  for  each  month,  one  headed  "Ex- 
pended Month  of , ' '  another  ' '  Balance  as  of . ' ' 

Cross  lines  may  be  supplied  for  any  subdivisions  desired, 
such  as  ''Art  and  Engraving,"  ''Printed  Matter,"  "Post- 
425 


426 


EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


age,  "  ••Salaries,"  etc.    A  line  of  this  record  would  read  in 


this  manner 


Kind  of  D.  A. 


Booklet  — 
Art   &   Eng 
Printing 


Appro,    for 
1920 

$30,000.00 
500.00 
500.00 


Expended 
January 


Balance 
Feb.  1 


Expended 
February 


1,000.00       29,000.00 


300.00 
300.00 


Balance 
Mch.  1. 


28,400.00 


361.  Keeping  the  Inventory  of  Direct-advertising  Lit- 
erature.— "How  soon  will  we  need  to  reprint  that  'Ideal' 
folder?"  is  a  question  often  heard  in  direct-advertising 
offices.  Fig.  109  represents  one  way  of  keeping  a  monthly 
record.  In  this  case  a  card  is  made  out  for  each  different 
piece  of  direct  advertising.  These  cards  can  be  kept  in  the 
desk,  indexed  either  by  subject,  by  name,  or  by  form  num- 
ber— or  as  three  separate  records  each  one  kept  as  desired. 


NAME    ' 

INVENTORY   OF    AdVEftTISINO 

LITERATURE 

3/4CO 

OESCfilPTION     7^aUJC<^9'    ^(>-Cct&l/       MINIMUM     SOOO     , 

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cc 

0. 

s 

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0 
0 

0 

s 

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u 

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40 

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c 

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Fig.  109. — A  filing  card  to  record  each  kind  of  direct 
advertising;  that  is,  each  catalogue,  booklet,  folder, 
etc.  When  filed  by  name  or  subject,  tabs  provide  a 
cross  reference  by  form  number. 

The  card  illustrated  is  tabbed  to  provide  ease  in  cross-ref- 
erence. A  consecutive  form  number  is  assigned  to  each 
piece  as  it  is  printed.  The  * '  Ideal  Car ' '  folder  was  desig- 
nated as  No.  M-3140,  so  that  all  the  tabs  on  the  top  of  this 
card  should  be  cut  off,  except  the  "0"  tab,  this  "0"  tab 
representing  the  last  digit  of  the  form  number.  If  the 
form  had  been  No.  3145,  the  ''5"  tab  would  have  been  left. 


THE  RECORDS 


427 


Thus  when  the  cards  are  filed  alphabetically,  by  name  of 
catalogue,  the  tabs  provide  a  -quick  .and  simple  method  for 
finding  any  card  when  only  the  form  number  is  known — 
"1"  tabs  for  form  numbers  whose  last  digit  is  "1";  "2" 
tabs  for  form  numbers  whose  last  digit  is  ''2,"  etc.  This 
method  is  simple  and  efficient. 

What  the  author  deems  as  an  ideal  way  to  keep  a  record 
of  this  nature  .is  the  perpetual  inventory  record  on  cards 
as  follows:  Each  piece  of  direct  advertising  has  a  form 
number,  as  indicated  in  preceding  paragraphs.  Then  a 
card  like  that  shown  in  Fig.  110  is  made  out  for  each  piece. 
This  card  is  so  simple  that  it  needs  little  explanation. 
r 


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Fig.  110. — An  8x5  inch  card  used  for  each  dififerent  piece  of 
direct  advertising  is  one  means  of  keeping  a  perpetual  inventory. 
This  shows  orders  placed,  delivered,  deliveries  made  on  requisition 
to  stock  room,  balance  on  hand  at  all  times,  etc.  Such  cards  are 
indexed  by  form  numbers  Indicator  (over  "12")  brings  up  card 
for  re-order  of  supply  on  any  specified  date. 

When  an  order  is  placed  for  a  new  supply,  note  the  fact 
in  the  proper  space  provided  near  the  top  of  the  card. 
For  following  up  the  printer,  the  daj^s  of  the  month  are 


428 


EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


printed  across  the  top  of  the  card,  and,  in  conjunction  with 
small  metal  indicators,  afford  a  simple,  but  effective  method. 
Note  that  illustration  shows  indicator  at  '*12."  This  signi- 
fies that  the  clerk  will  follow  up  the  printer  on  the  12th  of 
the  month ;  the  color  of  the  tab  gives  a  key  to  the  month. 
As  deliveries  are  made  by  the  printer,  that  fact  is  noted 


Card  *1                                    (Jenerel  Jarmlnp  BooWet 

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Fig.  111. — Another  8x5  perpetual  inventory  card.  This  one  is 
used  when  you  do  not  care  to  keep  a  record  of  the  firms  or  individ- 
uals to  whom  you  have  delivered  your  direct-advertising  matter.  It 
is  indexed  alphabetically.  "Remarks"  column  can  be  used  to  note 
balance  on  hand. 

under  ' '  Received  on  Orders. ' '  And  as  requisitions  are  filled 
by  you  the  details  are  entered  at  the  bottom  of  the  card. 
The  balance  on  hand,  therefore,  is  always  shown. 

A  variation  of  this  form  is  shown  in  Fig.  111.  The  re- 
verse side  of  this  card  (not  illustrated)  provides  space  for 
record  of  orders  placed  with  printer  and  deliveries  made 


Censral  Farning  Booklet 

1 

' 

» 

Article 

C»rd    Number 

D«te 

A.  S.  O.       No. 

Qu.nlh, 

Dfttr 

A.  S.  O.        No. 

Quntitr 

Dkt* 

A  S.O.        No. 

Quaatiry 

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Fig.    112. — Such  a  form   is  printed  on   bond  paper,  as   a  rule,  and  is 
employed  for  keeping  a  temporary-  record  of  deliveries.     The  information 
is  periodically  posted  to  Fig  111.     This  form  is  used  to  lessen  the  number 
of  entries  on  thfe  regular  stock  card.     Size  8x5  inches. 


THE  RECORDS 


429 


to  you.  The  face  of  the  card  provides  two  columns  for 
showing  deliveries  you  make  and  amounts  returned  from 
time  to  time. 

Fig.  112  is  supplementary  to  Fig.  111.  When  many 
requisitions  for  the  same  item  are  made  to  the  stock  clerk 
each  day,  he  can  make  out  a  slip  like  that  in  Fig.  112,  one 
slip  for  each  item.  At  the  end  of  the  day,  week,  month,  or 
other  period  these  temporary  records  -may  be  posted  to  the 
regular  inventory  card  record. 


Fig.  113. — This  form  will  enable  you  to  learn  the  exact  cost  of 
any  piece  of  direct-advertising  matter  you  may  issue.  Size  8x5 
inches.  Reverse  side  of  card  contains  extra  space  for  listing 
charges  against  the  job. 

362.  A, Record  of  the  Cost  of  Individual  Pieces. — If  you 

are  to  check  results  with  accuracy  you  must  know  the  cost 
of  each  piece.     Here  is  a  simple  and  easy  method : 

Assign  a  consecutive  number  to  each  "job" — that  is,  each 
catalogue,  booklet,  or  other  piece  of  direct  advertising;  or 
the  number  may  be  assigned  to  a  group  of  pieces  issued  at 
the  same  time.  This  number  should  not  be  confused  with 
the  "Form  Number"  mentioned  in  Section  361.  Some 
firms,  to  avoid  confusion,  precede  form  numbers  by  an  "F" 
and  job  numbers  by  a  "J." 

Make  out  for  each  job  a  card  like  Fig.  113.     File  the 


430 


EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


cards  alphabetically  or  by  form  number  and  keep  a  nu- 
merical card  index  of  the  job  numbers.  Always  put  the 
job  number  on  purchase  order  or  requisition.  "When  in- 
voice comes  in,  see  that  it  bears  the  job  number.  Post  all 
charges  on  Job  No.  1  to  the  No.  1  card,  etc.  When  the 
work  is  complete,  the  total  of  charges  will  give  you  the 
exact  cost  of  job. 


DaU_ 


Title  or  Roster  Index ^^*^<**V     ^'^y^y^^^^Z^- - 

Title  as  Printed C^g    ■^yC-a-ZaCw      c^  ^       ai~c-it-e^ 

Character  of  Wock.-''^r^4^;^_  .I<t/EdiUi 
Work  Originated  by 

Olven  to  __.,€!_  ...  .  , >---> — >T 

Layout  Ordered  of.  ,„/2*K^ ^^^^.  G> 

Artiet  Work  Orderal  of=_  J?.   T?!". 

Layout  Approved  by "...       .  „^ 

Passed  to  OrderClerk C'.  y^  -  -  .  ... 

Printing  Order  Issued ^j/-^^       .   .  - , Inatructlona  by. 

Remarks :.    _„.^. ^ b.    ■ 


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StMEDULE  OF  WORK  DONE  ON  THIS  ORDER 


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PROGRESS  OF  WORK 


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Fig.  114. — A  regular  file  folder  imprinted  with  an  actual  record.  All 
the  original  data  and  a  record  of  each  step  in  the  preparation  of  a  piece 
of  direct  advertising  are  kept  together  in  a  folder  like  this,  known  as  a 
"job"  folder.  One  folder  is  made  for  each  job.  Folders  may  be  filed  ver- 
tically and  indexed  by  number  of  "job." 

Note  the  "Estimate"  column  on  Fig.  113.  This  is  a 
check  on  the  charges  of  the  engraver,  printer,  and  others. 

You  will  also  probably  find  it  worth  while  to  keep  in  one 
place  all  the  data  about  each  job,  the  original  copy,  dupli- 
cate proofs,  finished  sample  of  the  job,  record  of  time  spent 
by  each  member  of  your  department,  record  of  proofs, 
O.  K.'s,  etc. 


THE  RECORDS 


431 


Fig.  114  represents  what  might  be  termed  a  ''Job 
Folder."  In  starting  work  on  any  "job"  you  make  out 
one  of  these  folders — a  file  folder  imprinted  as  suggested, 
filing  within  the  folder  all  the  papers  relating  to  the  job, 
as  you  go  along. 

In  this  system  one  drawer,  or  part  of  a  drawer,  may  be 
used  for  "Jobs  in  Process,"  another  for  "Finished  Jobs." 


REPLIES 

SALES 

NO. 

DATE 

NO. 

d/te 

AMT. 

DATE 

AMT. 

llh 

/ 

uhs 

mo 

'/v 

sT 

//? 

^.00 

// 

J 

'H> 

s:io 

'1 

/( 

, 

TOTAL 
REPLIES 

.    --   .    .        « 

TOTAL 
SALES 

Fig.  115. — The  reverse  side  of  card  illus- 
trated in  Fig.  116,  to  show  the  returns  from 
any  particular  mailing. 

363.  Keeping  the  Records  of  the  Original  Mailing. — 
For  the  sake  of  simplicity  we  shall  treat  in  this  section  only 
of  the  record  of  the  original  mailings — direct  advertising 
proper;  and  not  from  follow-ups,  which  will  be  treated  in 


432 


EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


Section  364.  This  record  consists  of  two  forms,  each 
printed  on  both  sides.  The  first  is  a  5  x  3  card,  one  side  of 
which  is  shown  in  Fig.  115,  the  other  side  in  Fig.  116. 
Make  out  one  of  these  cards  for  each  piece  of  direct  adver- 
tising done.  Each  piece  is  keyed  and  the  key  number — or 
other  method  of  keying  as  color,  date,  etc. — noted  on  the 
face  of  the  card.  The  example  shows  a  card  numbered 
1438,  the  small  tab  "8"  corresponding  to  the  last  digit  of 
the  key,  or  form  number,  or  whatever  is  decided  upon,  as 


rORM    NO     1974      300 


?-C,,/fP-l    ^-^-ifg-yf 


CiRC.   No. 


1438 


ENCLOSURES 


/a  6 


3l_ 


ENV.  AND  LETTERS 


^ 


^0 


CATALOGS 


RETURN  CARDS 


S^ 


oS 


y(o3 


lc_ 


COST  PER   PIECE 


OS 


/// 


03L 


COST  PER  M. 


sy 


ZA. 


Fig.  116. — This  illustrates  the  face  side  of  a  5  x  3  card  and  in- 
dicates what  circularizing  has  been  done  and  its  cost.  A  card  like 
this  is  indexed  numerically. 

explained  in  Section  361.  This  tab  makes  filing  and  find- 
ing easier,  though  records  may  be  kept  without  it. 

The  face  of  the  card,  as  the  illustration  shows,  gives 
details  of  the  total  cost — posted  from  Fig.  113 — or  a  similar 
record. 

An  alphabetical  list  of  any  direct  mailings  should  be 
kept  for  cross-reference  purposes.  ^Make  out  one  card 
(using  standard  or  stock  horizontal  ruling)  for  each  mail- 
ing, and  file  by  name  of  mailing  list — as  for  example,  print- 
ers, lithographers,  advertising  agencies,  manufacturing 
concerns  owning  their  own  printshops,  etc. 


THE  KECORDS 


433 


At  the  end  of  the  day,  figures  on  face  of  small  card  (Fig. 
116)  are  posted  to  the  daily  record  of  circularizing  (see 
Fig.  117).  The  daily  record  is  convenient  for  chronologi- 
cal reference  and  provides  a  method  of  distributing,  terri- 
torially, the  expense  at  the  end  of  the  month. 


0                   o 

DAILY    neCORD    OF    CIRCUUIRIZINC 

"" 

c. 

.„.. 

^C.O..... 

.O...C,  .o...,.,t. 

,^ 

\" 

^,^->^ 

^^^-^ 

.^ 

-^     -J 

-^                       \^ 

^ 

7^ 

v^                \ 

^ 

k 

Fig.  117. — A  daily  record  of  circularizing.  Territorial  records 
are  made  up  from  this  record.  Original  is  letter  size  (8%xll). 
It  is  filed  vertically  or  punched  and  used  on  the  Shannon  file. 

As  replies  are  received  and  sales  are  made,  these  facts  are 
entered  on  the  reverse  side  of  the  large  card  (Fig.  118). 


Q                        O 

OArtr  RECORD  or  RETURNS  TROM  CIRCULABiriNS  AND  FOLLOW-UP 

"'■' 

."V.'".' 

"cV,:::- 

•- 1 

o.rr 

ulctwVo 

•  «T.or5.L,» 

—J' 

■"^ 

V 

\ 

yv 

V 

^ 

zz 

\ 

U^ 

^     • 

... — ^ 

V 

r 

V 

Fig.   118. — This  is  a  chronological  record  of  returns    (inquiries 
and  sales)  received  from  circularizing.     See  Fig.  117  for  method. 

This  is  a  general  record  of  returns  and  is  used  in  drawing 
off  reports  for  the  executives.     Entfy  is  also  made  on  re- 


434 


EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


verse  side  of  the  small  card  (Fig.  115),  giving  the  results  of 
each  individual  lot  of  circularizing. 

Of  course,  in  order  to  follow  inquiries  through  to  the  time 
of  their  development  into  sales,  a  follow-up  record  is  neces- 
sary as  a  rule.     This  will  be  covered  in  Section  364. 

Fig.  119  illustrates  the  printed  record  on  the  outside  of 
a  12  X  15  envelope,  a  system  devised,  and  copyrighted  by 
the  Making  Letters  Pay  System  and  reproduced  here  by 
permission.     This  is  a  variation  of  the  system  described  in 


Tolal  InquiriM  Received                                           P«rr»ni=<ro )  '"IK'nes                                     /._^,  „,  1  IrKiuiry 
Tolar  Onl«s  Received                                              *^"<*"'=e«l  Orders                                        ^^' P«'i  Order 

List  Used                                                    Cost  per  Letter                                     Mailing  Date 

List  Was  Last  Used                                  Quantity  Mailed  '                                ,^,«  «„■  l„,„ 

Number  returned                                                   Firjt  Sentence                                                 Kev  of  I^tt^ r 
M  non-deliverable                                                      of  Letter                                                               "•*>'  °'  ""^"^ 

P<»'=g«lT;ro'S;;,                                          written  by 

Renilu  by  day*  ^tcr«d  here.         Rc«ord  inquirict  «nd  orders  Mp«rttl*lr 

Momh 

1 

1 

3 

4 

i 

» 

7 

8 

9 

10 

II 

II 

IJ 

14 

ts 

Monih 

It 

17 

II 

l» 

It 

II 

72 

2J 

14 

^s 

26 

17 

II 

29 

M 

Monih 

1 

! 

J 

4 

S 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

II 

|] 

u 

14 

It 

Month 

16 

<7 

It 

It 

10 

11 

31 

JJ 

14 

IS 

16 

/7 

28 

29 

30 

Daily  record  of  order*  sod  •foouni*  in  dolUrs  and  cenit 

D... 

o"«T.' 

A,n~.« 

0... 

o.«... 

Amo.H 

■^sit; 

Affwunt         1 

Rroord 

'"^2":: 

—    1 

Delukd  fif  lira.  ,g(  Coot 

ln*tr\Kt>o«ii  for  m«iltnf  And  r«markB 

Printrd  maiirr 

Lrttrrhradt 

Envrloon 

FJK-txnil*  work     ■•>>■><. 
Cool  *n  IWH  iwcr«Mry 

PoVtlfO     .         .    ^   .     ,   .         .        .         . 

W«)rmal. 

Co^prrrw 

». 

_ 

MAKINC-LETTERS-PAY  SYSTEM 

Fig.  119. — The  originators  of  this  system  suggest  that  this  record 
be  printed  on  an  envelope  and  all  the  data  kept  therein.  Copy- 
righted. 

the  earlier  paragraphs  of  this  section.  Before  the  direct  ad- 
vertising is  mailed  out,  a  full  report  is  made  on  the  outside 
of  the  envelope;  all  bills  for  tima,  facsimile  work,  printed 
matter,  etc.,  being  posted  to  the  outside  of  this  envelope, 
within  which  is  filed  a  set  of  piece  or  pieqes  mailed. 

364.  Keeping   Records   on   the   Follownup. — A   simple 


THE  RECORDS 


435 


method  which  may  be  used  by  any  small  business  for  hand- 
ling the  record  end  of  a  short  follow-up  is  as  follows: 
(1)  Have  a  card  and  card  file.  On  the  card  put  down  the 
name  and  address,  together  with  any  supplementary  data 
such  as  ratings,  etc.,  which  you  may  wish  to  keep  a  record 
of.  (2)  Arrange  these  cards  alphabetically.  (3)  In  send- 
ing out  the  form  letter  or  other  first  piece,  mark  this  date  on 


Fig.  120. — Method  of  filing  the  follow-up  by  dates;  illus- 
trating also  how  the  mailing  list  is  maintained,  as  distinct 
from  the  addressing-machine  plates  or  stencils. 

the  card.  (4)  At  the  top  of  the  cards  should  be  printed  the 
thirty-one  dates  (see  Figs.  110  and  120  for  method)  and 
by  12  different  colors  of  movable  indicators  or  tabs  you  can 
mark  the  date  for  the  follow-up  letters  or  pieces.  (5) 
When  you  make  a  sale  to  the  person  followed  up  you  may 
either  mark  it  on  the  card,  or,  if  you  wish,  take  the  card  out 
of  the  prospect  file  and  put  it  in  a  separate  "Customer's" 
file  and  continue  to  follow  in  either  case.  This  plan  is,  of 
course,  quite  simple  and  yet  it  can  be  expanded  for  fairly 
large  businesses,  though  they  usually  wish  special  informa- 
tion and  require  a  more  detailed  card  together  with  a  more 


436 


EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


elaborate  system  such  as  will  be  described  in  the  following 
paragraph. 

Fig.  120  illustrates  a  method  of  filing  the  follow-up  card 
— which  in  many  cases  is  the  mailing  list  itself — aside  from 
the  addressing-machine  plates.  This  is  known  as  the 
method  of  filing  the  cards  by  dates ;  if  desired,  lettered  tabs 
may  be  had  on  the  cards,  and  in  this  case  there  would  be 
an  ''H"  tab  on  the  card  illustrated  and  this  would  aid  in 
locating  the  inquiry.  Another  variation  is  to  use  metal 
tabs  on  top  of  the  card  so  as  to  call  attention  to  date  of  the 


..rf*^,^       -^'^i'         '^Jtl,^          (P^^                 ADDRESS                      /J?.           ,^L,^^Ut^      Ot^T.        ^S^"" 

H\ 

OOWH« 

.r:;^;; 

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C.OV.. 

,."'Kii. 

..,.N.. 

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f^ 

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4U... 

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OCT 

1 

NO. 

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o<5_ 

Fig.  121. — How  one  retailer  gets  his  basis  for  a  direct-advertis- 
ing campaign.  This  card  shows  what  articles  the  customer  has 
bought  and  when  she  bought  them.  This  information  serves  as  an 
aid  in  "personalizing"  his  appeal. 

next  follow-up.  For  example,  this  Hart  IManufacturing 
Company  card  is  coming  out  on  the  14th  of  Januarj^  (see 
Fig.  120).  If  we  wanted  to  follow  it  again  on  January 
30th  we  might  put  a  projecting  metal  tab  on  "30" — see  top 
of  card  in  small  type — and  take  the  card  out  of  the  file  it  is 
now  in  and  place  it  in  the  alphabetical  file  under  "Ila." 
The  color  of  the  tab  would  indicate  the  month,  say  red  for 
January,  blue  for  February,  and  so  on. 


THE  RECORDS 


437 


Occasionally  tha  back  of  the  follow-up  record  card  is 
used  for  posting  the  actual  sales  made  to  the  inquirer  (see 
Fig.  121,  reproduced  by  courtesy  of  Business,  a  house  tnag- 


POST  OPMc/      ^  j^^^ 

\^^fCLa^  1  ZAr7°^SA;'^<^CL*.y^^^ 

NAMB       yQ_-^yy        w^      j<i 

mDwu>\HiijfSM  wfiB^iL^ 

«n'ICLUkA6  BB  ADEBBSSD  (IF  ANY) 

INDICATE  FOLLOW  UP  SYSTEI)^  CHECK  MARK                                                               | 

CMntIs 

^ 

INQUIRYKBY 

r^MZtouy^^dJ  X^     U*-^. 

SinvOei 

•/ 

Cui  IkJh  S^ltms 

V 

/^e^e^^l/^     P<-    -f^^^  *«^ 

Htrdy  C,j4  InUr  Oulfll'                        I 

Cjft/  Udgrf  Systems 

• 

yC>o.cCu^U7*3f ,     ^ 

Hanh  Ctrd  Udger  Oulflls 

AsAMn  Filinf  SvsUin_ 

.  .-■■■■   ' 

Verhctt  Filing  SysUm 

Vtrhal  Tna  Oulflls 

Poaimeni  Flits 

KuM  Kollef  UHtr  Copltr 

jeittujy  Picoid  Systems 

A 

Bottlen'  PtconJ  Systems 

Suilvlv  OfflmSUnts 

C»l*loff  Filing  Syilrms 

•' 

NOTEi    Thl<  focm  to  Ix  MtU  i^iy  Ic  ttextef 

•JvcrtUtng  Inquiriu, 

TrtnsterfinQ 

THIS  SIDE  FOR  USE  OF  ADVERTISING  DEPARTMENT  ONLY. 

FOLLOW  UP  SERIES      '^ttJL/,    f^c-CAo 

SALES  RECORD 

ORDER  NO.             DATB             AMOUNT 

FORMS    PRINTED  MATTER      DATE  MAILED        ACKNOWLEDGED 

^3goo 

'"A- 

ysfo 

/O-*/ 

4-zo^o 

/o/^ 

T^ 

/ 

K 

^'^/c 

R 

SFEOAl    NOTE,     II  ,p,ci»l  l.lt.r.  jr.  ..qui.cil,  li...rl  th.tk  m.-k  (V  )                                                  TOTAL 

i.,>i«(l  ol  lotm  No.,  jnd  tnttc  djl.<  »«  «rt.                                                                                                                                            (c^oij    i,«  <u   j.-mi 

Fig.  122. — A.  The  face  of  a  follow-up  card  record  used  in  the 
home  office  of  the  originators  of  filing  systems  of  this  kind.  B. 
The  reverse  of  the  card. 


438         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

azine  published  at  Detroit  by  Burroughs  Adding  Machine 
Company),  illustrating  actually  how  a  prominent  retailer 
in  that  city  follows  up  customers. 

Fig.  122  shows  the  front  and  reverse  side  of  a  card  used 
by  the  Yawman  &  Erbe  Manufacturing  Company,  Roches- 
ter, New  York,  which  combines  on  the  face  the  regular 
mailing-record  card  and  indication  of  follow-up  to  be  re- 
quired, and  on  the  reverse  shows  not  only  the  follow-up  but 
the  sales  record. 

365.  Keeping  a  Record  of  Drawings,  Photographs, 
etc. — The  drawings,  photographs,  'etc.,  used  in  producing 
direct  advertising  are  expensive  to  make  and  a  good  record 
is  vitally  necessary  to  keep  track  of  them  and  to  avoid  costly 
"make-overs,"  as  they  are  termed. 

If  the  business  is  at  all  large  it  will  be  necessary  first  to 
make  an  arbitrary  classification  which  will  include  every 
drawing  or  photograph  you  have.  One  concern  indexed  its 
drawings  and  photographs  in  this  manner : 

Agricultural  Implements  Automobiles 

Architects  Bicycles 

Athletic   Goods  Boots  &  Shoes 

Then  assign  a  consecutive  number  to  each  division — 
"1"  to  agricultural  implements;  "2"  for  architectural 
drawings,  etc.  Then  paste  a  proof  of  each  drawing  or  pho- 
tograph on  an  8  X  5  card.  Rubber-stamp,  or  have  a  sticker 
made  and  paste  on  giving  the  following  information : 

DIVISION  DATE 

DRAWER  NUMBER 

PHOTO  FROM  COST 

RETOUCHED  BY  COST 
REMARKS 

When  these  lines  have  been- filled  in,  the  drawing  or  photo- 
graph is  ready  for  filing.  Since  drawings  in  particular 
vary  in  size,  several  sized  drawers  will  probably  be  needed 
to  file  them  without  waste  of  space.  Large  firms,  as  a  rule, 
provide  three  sizes  of  drawers,  one  small,   one  medium, 


THE  RECORDS 


439 


and  one  large,  designating  them  as  drawers  "A,"  "B," 
and  "C,"  respectively.  The  "A"  drawings  go  in  the 
"A"  drawer,  etc. 

The  first  drawing  or  photograph  will  be  numbered  "1," 
the  next  "2,"  etc.  These  numbers  will  also  be  put  on  the 
respective  index  cards.  A  combination  of  these  numbers 
and  the  letter  makes  the  symbol  by  which  the  drawing  or 


Fig.  123. — When  a  drawing  is  sent  out,  record  it  on  the  back  of  the 
index  card.  See  text  for  description.  A  record  of  this  kind  is  a 
means  of  safeguarding  valuable  drawings  from  becoming  lost. 

photograph  is  designated.  "4-B-231"  would  mean  an 
automobile  drawing  which  was  the  231st  drawing  in 
the  ''B"  size  drawers.  Therefore,  if  you  know  either  the 
nature  or  the  number  of  the  drawing,  you  can  readily  find 
it. 

The  use  of  the  record  form  (Fig.  123)  is  very  simple. 
When  you  send  a  drawing  to  an  artist,  engraver,  photogra- 
pher, or  any  one  for  that  matter,  enter  the  date,  name, 
address,  and  any  remarks  upon  this  record  card.  Then 
when  the  drawing  is  returned  the  date  should  be  noted  in 
the  last  column. 

The  reverse  of  Fig.  123  is  similar  to  Fig.  124. 

It  will  be  found  necessary  either  to  put  follow-up  indi- 
cator tabs  upon  "out"  drawings  or  photographs,  or  to 
follow  up  by  going  through  the  entire  file  occasionally. 

366.  Keeping  a  Record  of  Engravings. — Nothing  is 
more  common  among  direct  advertisers  than  to  plan  to 
make  use  of  a  half-tone  made  for  such  and  such  a  folder 
only  to  find  at  the  last  moment  that  it  is  "out,"  its  loca- 
tion unknown,  and  the  possibility  very  small  of  having  a 
new  one  made  in  a  hurry. 


440         EFFECTIVE  DIKECT  ADVERTISING 


A  record  of  engravings  of  all  kinds  should  cover  three 
phases — the  physical  filing,  the  indexing,  and  the  "Out" 
records.  We  particularly  mention  the  filing  since  the  sur- 
face of  half-tones,  especially,  are  extremely  sensitive  and  a 
slight  pin-scratch  may  necessitate  making  over  a  plate 
which  may  have  cost  hundreds  of  dollars.  When  you  con- 
sider that  the  dots  are  sometimes  200  to  the  square  inch 


— i i — s — J — i — i f — i — t — It   [<J  It     ^i    »4     t(i~i6-|t"H-  {*    H>     U     it    ii    ii     U    U    n    H    H    I«-jr-| 

....   /-/             ...T^X/ 

PASTE  PROOf  OF  CUT  IN  THIS  SPACE 

MMc  •▼     ^•••^iAA^aZ^ 

^      CtAlSi/L.     f/f 

«>...,  /J  J .     ' 

e..O.>..L>>»TO«T 

.... 

TO 

.«. 

'1^ 

y^w^ /A-.--/V/: 

'%» 

Fig.  124. — Face  of  index  card,  size  11%  xQ^^  inches,  for  filing 
vertically  a  record  of  engravings.  One  card  is  made  out  for  each 
different  kind  and  size  of  plate.  A  record  is  made  on  this  card  when 
originals  are  sent  to  tlie  printer  or  electrotyper. 

and  that  to  break  even  one  dot  spoils  the  plate  a  little  bit, 
at  least  one  would  think  the  exercise  of  care  would  be  the 
rule.  But  it  is  not.  Engravings  are  marred  daily  in  al- 
most every  office  in  America.  Hence  wo  emphasize  the 
filing  as  well  as  keeping  the  actual  records;  likewise,  the 
filing  and  the  record  are  akin. 

The  filing  should  be  done  in  shallow  drawers — all  filing 
cabinet  makers  make  them;  they  call  them  "legal  blank 
drawers."    Never  pile  one   plate   upon   another.     A1- 


THE  RECORDS 


441 


ways  wrap  them  in  soft  paper  like  newspaper,  several  thick- 
nesses, before  packing  together  to  ship. 

With  a  set  of  steel  dies  of  the  digits  1-0  inclusive,  and 
a  hammer,  die-stamp  a  number  on  the  wooden  or  metal  base 
of  every  mounted  plate.  Do  likewise  with  all  the  electro- 
types. 

For  each  different  size  and  kind  of  plate  make  out  a 
card  like  that  shown  in  Fig.  124  with  proof  pasted  as  indi- 
cated. File  these  cards,  first  according  to  classification 
(similar  to  drawings,  as  a  rule,  see  Section  365),  and  sec- 
ondly, numerically  in  each  classification. 


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Fig.  125. — Eeverse  side  of  card  shown  in  Fig.  124.  A  record  is 
entered  here  when  electros  are  sent  out.  ITiis  form  shows  the 
number  of  electros  of  any  particular  kind  on  hand  at  any  moment. 

When  the  original  plates  are  sent  out  a  record  should  be 
made  on  the  face  of  the  card,  Fig.  124,  and  follow- 
ups  maintained  by  metal  tab  indicators  set  over  the  dates 
1-31  printed  across  the  top  of  the  card. 

If  electros  of  your  half-tones  are  used — and  they  should 


442         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

be  if  you  expect  to  use  the  half-tone  again,  or  wish  to  insure 
saving  ultimate  expense  in  case  a  plate  is  marred  in  print- 
ing— use  the  reverse  side  of  the  record  card  as  shown  in 
Fig.  125.  This  record  also  provides  space,  as  you  will  note, 
for  a  perpetual  inventory  of  electros  on  hand. 

When  you  send  plates  to  a  printer  it  is  well  to  inclose 
with  them  a  record  that  shows  in  a  general  way  this  in- 
formation : 

PLATES   FROM 

Name  of  Your  Concern 

Location  of  Your  Concern 

To  be  Used  in. 

Write  here  name  or  Form  Number  of  Catalogue,  Booklet,  etc. 

The  printer  may  get  plates  for  any  one  catalogue  or 
booklet  from  many  different  sources,  besides  getting  plates 
from  many  different  concerns  for  whom  he  is  printing. 

If  you  do  a  lot  of  business  with  any  one  firm  of  printers 
a  record  can  easily  be  kept  by  printing  up  a  regular  file 
folder,  upon  which  columns  are  ruled  to  show  the  date  the 
plates  are  sent,  items,  the  name  or  form  number  of  the 
piece,  the  date  the  plates  are  returned,  etc.  Into  this 
folder  proofs  may  be  dropped  of  plates  sent  and  the  record 
kept  without  a  lot  of  "red  tape." 

367.  In  closing  this  chapter  let  us  repeat  that  direct  ad- 
vertising is  one  of  the  few  forms  which  may  be  used  for 
direct  results,  and  not  to  record  those  results  in  a  perma- 
nent manner  is  to  continue  to  do  business  entirely  by 
guess  work.  We  have  not  mentioned  purchase  orders  and 
records  of  that  nature,  but  it  would  be  well  to  follow  some 
method  of  keeping  up  with  orders  placed,  and  also  to  have 
a  printed  form  of  requisition,  for  verbal  instructions  usu- 
ally lead  to  verbal  altercations. 

Naturally  all  the  records  herein  will  have  to  be  adapted 
to  the  business  you  are  engaged  in,  but  they  are  all  effective 
record  systems  that  can  be  readily  modified. 


THE  EECORDS  443 

QUKSTIONS   FOR  ClASS  WoRK  OR  FOR  REVIEW  PURPOSES 

1.  Draw  up  a  set  of  record  forms  either  for  some  business  you 
are  familiar  with,  or  for  some  business  you  can  readily  become 
familiar  with. 

Note:     Application    to    specialists    in    making    card    records, 
forms,  etc.,  will  bring  you  definite  forms  that  are  standardized. 


CHAPTER  XX 

THE  POSTAL  REQUIREMENTS 

Neither  snow,  nor  rain,  nor  heat,  nor  gloom  of  night,  stays 
these  couriers  from  the  swift  completion  of  their  appointed 
rounds. — Facade  New  York  Post  Office. 

368.  Classification  of  Domestic  Mail  Matter. — At  the 

outset  let  it  be  understood  that  it  is  not  only  helpful  but 
vitally  important  for  the  direct  advertiser  to  cooperate  with 
the  United  States  Post  Office  Department  and  to  follow  its 
rules  and  regulations.  This  material  in  the  main  is  quoted 
directly  from  the  Official  Postal  Guide  for  July,  1920,  and 
is  correct  at  the  time  this  is  being  written  but  should  be 
verified  before  being  acted  upon  because  postal  rules  and 
regulations  are  constantly  changing.  Every  direct  adver- 
tiser will  find  the  Postal  Guide  a  worth-while  purchase. 
Including  eleven  supplements,  which  are  issued  monthly,  it 
is  sold  by  the  Post  Office  Department  for  $2.25. 

Domestic  mail  matter  includes  matter  deposited  in  the 
mails  for  local  delivery,  or  for  transmission  from  one  place 
to  another  within  the  United  States,  or  to  or  from  or  be- 
tween the  possessions  of  the  United  States,  and  is  divided 
into  four  classes : 

First.     Written  and  sealed  matter,  postal  cards,  and  private 
mailing  cards. 

Second.     Periodical  publications. 

Third.     Miscellaneous  printed  matter   (on  paper)   weighing 
four  pounds  or  less. 

Fourth.     (Parcel  Post.)     All  mailable  matter  not  included  in 
the  previous  classes. 

Hawaii,  Porto  Rico,  and  the  Virgin  Islands  are  included 
in  the  term  "United  States."  The  Philippine  Archipelago, 
Guam,  Tutuila,  and  Manua  of  the  Samoan  group,  and  the 

444 


THE  POSTAL  REQUIREMENTS  445 

Canal  Zone  are  included  in  the  term  "Possessions."  The 
term  "Canal  Zone"  includes  all  territory  purchased  from 
the  Republic  of  Panama,  embracing  the  Canal  Zone  proper, 
the  islands  in  the  Bay  of  Panama  named  Perioc,  Nabs, 
Culebra,  and  Flamenco. 

369.  What  Is  First-class  Matter? — First-class  matter 
includes  letters,  postal  cards,  post  cards  (private  mailing 
cards),  and  all  matter  wholly  or  partly  in  writing,  whether 
sealed  or  unsealed,  except  manuscript  copy  accompanying 
proof-sheets  or  corrected  proof-sheets  of  the  same  and  the 
writing  authorized  by  law  to  be  placed  upon  matter  of 
other  classes — see  Sections  441,  453,  and  458  of  Postal  Rules 
and  Regulations,  Matter  sealed  or  otherwise  closed  against 
inspection  is  also  first  class. 

Typewriting  and  carbon  and  letterpress  copies  thereof 
are  the  equivalent  of  handwriting  and  are  classed  as  such 
in  all  cases. 

Cards  or  letters  (printed)  bearing  a  written  date,  where 
the  date  is  not  the  date  of  the  card  but  gives  information 
as  to  when  the  sender  will  call,  or  deliver  something  other- 
wise referred  to,  or  is  the  date  when  something  will  occur, 
or  is  acknowledged  to  have  been  received,  are  first  class. 

Likewise  cards  (printed)  which  by  having  a  signature 
attached  are  converted  into  personal  communications,  such 
as  receipts,  orders  for  articles  furnished  by  addressee,  etc., 
are  first  class. 

Specifically  of  interest  to  direct  advertisers  is  the  state- 
ment that  folders  made  of  stiff  paper,  the  entire  inner  sur- 
face of  which  cannot  be  examined  except  at  the  imminent 
risk  of  breaking  the  seal,  and  those  having  many  folds  or 
pages  requiring  the  use  of  an  instrument  of  any  kind  in 
order  thoroughly  to  examine  the  inner  surfaces  are  subject 
to  the  first-class  rate  of  postage.  No  assurance  of  the  post- 
master at  the  office  of  mailing  will  prevent  the  collection  of 
the  higher  rate  of  postage  at  the  post  office  of  delivery. 

Imitations  or  reproductions  of  handwritten  or  type^ 
written  matter  not  mailed  at  the  post-office  window  or  other 
depository  designated  by  the  postmaster  in  a  minimum  num- 


446         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

ber  of  twenty  identical  copies  fall  within  the  first-class  rate. 
Price  lists  (printed)  containing  written  figures  changing 
individual  items  are  first-class. 

370.  Rate  of  First-class  Matter. —  (a)  On  letters  and 
other  matter,  wholly  or  partly  in  writing,  except  the  writing 
specially  authorized  to  be  placed  upon  matter  of  other 
classes,  and  on  matter  sealed  or  otherwise  closed  against 
inspection — 2  cents  an  ounce  or  fraction  thereof. 

(&)  On  postal  cards — 1  cent  each,  the  price  for  which 
they  are  sold.     See  also  Section  372  of  this  chapter. 

(c)  On  private  mailing  cards  (post  cards)  conforming  to 
the  requirements  of  such  cards — 1  cent  each. 

371.  Government  Postal  Cards. — Government  postal 
cards  are  also  supplied  in  double  form — with  reply  card; 
this  at  double  the  regular  rate — namely,  2  cents. 

Upon  these  cards  you  may  write,  print,  or  otherwise  add 
the  following,  in  addition  to  addresses: 

Advertisements,  illustrations,  or  writing  may  appear  on 
the  back  of  the  card  and  on  the  left  third  of  the  face. 
That  is,  the  card  on  its  face  may  be  divided  by  a  vertical 
line  placed  approximately  one-third  of  the  distance  from 
the  left  end  of  the  card ;  the  space  at  the  left  of  the  line 
to  be  used  for  the  message,  but  the  space  at  the  right  for 
the  address  only. 

No.  5  postal  is  3  X  5  inches  in  size. 

No.  8  postal  is  3^,4  x  5i/>  inches  in  size. 

Either  of  these  postals  may  be  ordered  in  sheets  for  re- 
duction in  the  cost  of  printing  large  lots,  in  which  event 
the  No.  5's  come  18  cards  to  the  sheet,  the  sheets  being  2 
cards  wide  by  9  cards  long,  and  they  are  packed  in  cases 
of  4500. 

No.  8's  come  48  cards  to  the  sheet,  4  cards  wide  by  12 
cards  long,  12,000  to  the  case. 

To  be  valid  for  postage,  these  sheet  cards  must  be  cut 
to  the  regulation  size  mentioned  above. 

372.  Private  Mailing  Cards. — Post  cards  manufactured 
by  private  persons,  consisting  of  an  unfolded  piece  of 
cardboard  in  quality  and  weight  substantially  like  the  Gov- 


THE  POSTAL  KEQUIREMENTS 


447 


emment  postal  card  not  exceeding  in  size  approximately 
3%6x5%6  inches,  nor  less  than  approximately  2%  x  4 
inches,  bearing  either  written  or  printed  messages,  are 
transmissible  without  cover  in  the  domestic  mails  at  the 
rate  of  1  cent  each. 


"A  most  valuable  little  treatise  for  adver- 
tising men,  copy  writers,  type  setters, 
printers,  in  fact  all  people  interested  in 
copy.  It  is  our  intention  to  place  it  on  the 
desk  of  each  man  in  our'ofRce  interested. 
We  will  gladly  pay  for  the  booklets." 

LARKIN  CO.,  Buffalo 


Private 

Mailing  Card 


Place 
1  cent 
stamp 
here 


Benjamin  Sherbow 

50  Union  Square 
NEW  YORK 


Fig.  126. — A  privately  printed  post  card  one-half  of  the  front  space 
of   which   may  be   used   for   advertising.     If   it   were   a   government 
postal  card,  only  one-third  could  be  used. 

Advertisements  and  illustrations  may  appear  on  the  back 
of  the  card  and  on  the  left  half  of  the  face.  The  right 
half  must  be  reserved  for  the  address,  postage  stamps,  post- 
mark, etc.  Fig.  126  represents  how  one  shrewd  direct  ad- 
vertiser made  up  his  own  post  cards  to  get  the  use  of  the 
half  of  the  front  instead  of  the  one-third  allowed  on  gov- 
ernment postal  cards. 

Any  cards  which  do  not  conform  with  the  foregoing 
conditions  are  chargeable  with  postage  at  the  letter  rate 
if  wholly  or  partly  in  writing,  or  at  the  third-class  rate  if 
entirely  in  print. 

Folded  Advertising  Cards,  and  other  matter  en- 
tirely in  print,  arranged  with  a  detachable  part  for  use  as 
a  post  card,  are  mailable  as  third-class  matter. 

373.  Second-class  Matter. — Since  this  class  is  restricted 
to  magazines,  newspapers,  and  other  periodicals  enjoying 


448         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

the  second-class  mailing  privileges,  our  only  interest  in  it  is 
when  as  one  of  the  public  we  remail  such  pieces.  In  this 
case  the  rate  is  1  cent  for  each  4  ounces  or  fraction  thereof 
on  each  separately  addressed  copy  or  package  of  unad- 
dressed  copies.  To  be  entitled  to  this  rate  the  copies  must 
be  complete.  Incomplete  copies  are  subject  to  postage  at 
the  third-  or  fourth-class  rate,  according  to  their  physical 
character. 

374.  Third-class  Matter. — This  class  embraces  circulars, 
newspapers,  and  periodicals  (house  organs)  not  admitted 
to  the  second  class  nor  embraced  in  the  term  "book,"  mis- 
cellaneous printed  matter  on  paper  not  having  the  nature 
of  an  actual  personal  correspondence,  pi*oof-sheets,  cor- 
rected proof-sheets,  and  manuscript  copy  accompanying 
them,  etc.  Books  are  included  in  the  fourth  class  or  parcel 
post,  as  also  is  miscellaneous  printed  matter  weighing 
MORE  THAN  four  pounds.  Likewise,  matter  printed  on  mate- 
rial other  than  paper  is  rated  in  the  fourth  class. 

The  government's  definition  of  a  "circular"  is:  "a 
printed  letter  sent  in  identical  terms  to  several  persons." 
It  may  bear  a  written,  typewritten,  or  hand-stamped  date, 
name  and  address  of  person  addressed  and  the  sender,  and 
corrections  of  mere  typographical  errors.  When  a  name 
(except  that  of  the  addressee  or  sender),  date  (other  than 
that  of  the  circular),  or  anything  else  is  handwritten  or 
typewritten  in  the  body  of  a  circular  for  any  other  reason 
than  to  correct  a  genuine  typographical  error,  the  circular 
is  subject  to  postage  at  the  first-class  (letter)  rate,  whether 
sealed  or  unsealed. 

Reproductions  or  imitations  of  handwriting  and  type- 
writing obtained  by  means  of  the  printing  press,  neostyle, 
multigraph,  or  similar  mechanical  process  will  be  treated 
as  third-class  matter  provided  they  are  mailed  at  the  post 
office  in  a  minimum  number  of  20  identical  pieces,  unsealed. 
If  mailed  elsewhere  or  in  a  less  quantity,  they  will  be  sub- 
ject to  the  first-class  rate. 

(a)  The  rate  of  postage  on  unsealed  third-class  matter 


THE  POSTAL  REQUIREMENTS  449 

is  one  cent  for  each  2  ounces,  or  fraction  thereof,  on  each 
individually  addressed  piece  or  package. 
(&)  The  limit  of  weight  is  4  pounds. 

(c)  The  following  items  are  specifically  mentioned  as  be- 
ing in  the  third  class ;  along  with  many  other  non-advertis- 
ing pieces-: 

Advertisements  printed  on  blotting  paper. 

Cards,  printed,  with  perforations  for  carrying  coin. 

Cards — Christmas,  Easter,  etc. — printed  on  paper.* 

Circulars. 

Engravings  and  wood-cuts  printed  on  paper. 

Ordei*  blanks  and  report  forms,  mainly  in  print. 
A  single  order  blank,  mainly  in  print,  may  be  inclosed 
with  fourth-class  matter  mailed  at  the  rates  of  that  class. 

Photographs,  printed  on  paper. 

Postal  cards,  bearing  printed  advertisements,  mailed  in  bulk. 

Post  cards,  bearing  on  the  message  side  illustrations  or  other 
printed  matter,  mailed  in  bulk. 

Price-lists,  wholly  in  print. 

Printed  matter  having  samples  of  merchandise  attached  cov- 
ering less  than  20  per  cent  of  the  space. 

Proof-sheets,  printed,  with  or  without  manuscript. 

Reproductions  or  imitations  of  hand-writing  or  type-writing — 
see  preceding  paragraphs. 

Wood-cuts  and  engravings  (prints). 

(d)  Corrections  in  proof-sheets  include  the  alteration 
of  the  text  and  insertion  of  new  matter,  as  well  as  the  cor- 
rection of  the  typographical  and  other  errors ;  include  also 
marginal  instructions  to  the  printer  necessary  to  the  cor- 
rection of  the  matter  or  its  proper  appearance  in  print. 
Part  of  an  article  may  be  entirely  rewritten  if  that  be 
necessary  for  correction.  Corrections  should  be  written 
upon  the  margin  of  or  attached  to  the  proof-sheets.  Manu- 
script of  one  article  cannot  be  inclosed  with  the  proof  or  cor- 
rected proof-sheets  of  another  except  at  the  first-class  rate. 

(e)  Permissible  inclosures.  There  may  be  inclosed 
with  third-class  matter,  without  changing  the  classification 
thereof,  a  card  bearinar  the  written  name  and  address  of 


450         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

the  sender;  a  single  order  form,  mainly  blank,  or  a  single 
combination  order-blank  and  coin-card  with  an  envelope  or 
post  card  for  reply. 

375.  Fourth-class  Matter  (Parcel  Post). — This  class 
embraces — so  far  as  the  direct  advertiser  is  concerned — 
merchandise,  farm  and  factory  products,  seeds,  cuttings, 
bulbs,  roots,  scions,  and  plants,  books  (including  cata- 
logues), miscellaneous  printed  matter  weighing  more  than 
four  pounds,  and  all  other  mailable  matter  not  comprised 
in  the  other  three  classes. 

This  includes  electrotypes,  engravings  (plates),  drawings, 
etc. 

The  rate,  (a)  Parcels  weighing  4  ounces  or  less,  ex- 
cept books,  seeds,  plants,  etc.,  1  cent  for  each  ounce  or  frac- 
tion thereof,  any  distance. 

(h)  Parcels  weighing  8  ounces  or  less  containing  books, 
seeds,  cuttings,  bulbs,  roots,  scions,  and  plants,  1  cent  for 
each  2  ounces  or  fraction  thereof,  regardless  of  distance. 

(c)  Parcels  weighing  more  than  8  ounces,  containing 
books,  seeds,  plants,  etc.,  parcels  of  miscellaneous  printed 
matter  weighing  more  than  4  pounds,  and  all  other  parcels 
of  fourth-class  matter  more  than  4  ounces  are  chargeable, 
according  to  distance  or  zone,  at  the  pound  rates — see  your 
local  post  office. 

RULINGS  OF  PARTICULAR  INTEREST  TO 
DIRECT  ADVERTISERS 

376.  Forwarding  or  Returning. — First-class  matter  can 
be  forwarded  from  one  post  office  to  another  without  a  new 
prepayment  of  postage. 

First-class  matter  indorsed  "After  —  days,  return  to 

^ ^  if  not  delivered,"  will  be  returned 

at  the  expiration  of  the  time  indicated  on  the  envelope  or 
wrapper.  If  no  time  is  set  for  the  return  the  matter  will 
be  returned  at  the  end  of  thirty  days.  But  the  matter 
must  remain  in  the  post  office  for  delivery  at  least  three 
days. 

(a)   Undeliverable   mail   of   the    third    and   fourth 


THE  POSTAL  REQUIREMENTS  451 

CLASSES,  and  that  of  the  second  class  mailed  by  the  public 
which  bears  the  pledge  of  the  sender  that  postage  for  its 
return  will  be  paid,  will  be  returned  to  the  sender,  and 
the  return  postage  collected  on  delivery.  When  other  mail 
of  these  classes  of  obvious  value  is  undeliverable,  the  post- 
master will  notify  the  sender  of  that  fact ;  and  such  matter 
will  be  returned  to  the  sender  only  upon  new  prepayment 
of  postage. 

After  notification  of  nondelivery,  such  matter  will  be  held 
not  longer  than  two  weeks,  unless  the  office  of  mailing  be 
so  remote  from  the  office  of  address  that  a  response  could 
not  be  received  from  the  sender  within  that  time.  Senders 
of  ordinary  third-class  matter  that  is  obviously  w^ithout 
VALUE  and  does  not  bear  the  sender's  pledge  to  pay  return 
postage  will  not  be  notified  of  the  nondelivery  of  such  mat- 
ter. 

(&)  This  pledge  need  not  take  any  particular  form,  but 
experienced  users  have  found  quite  effective  this  form  as 
noted  in  Paragraph  5a,  Section  637,  P.  L.  &  R. : 

TO  THE  postmaster: 

If  undeliverable,  please  return  after  ten  days.  Postage 
for  return  will  be  paid  upon  delivery  to  sender.  When  re- 
turning please  check  reason  for  nondelivery.  (Paragraphs 
1  and  9,  Sec.  637  and  738,  P.  L.  &  R.) 

Does  not  receive  mail  here 

Dead  Refused Unclaimed  ■ 

Removed  to 

In  fact,  postmasters  are  provided  with  a  special  form  (Card 
No.  3540)  for  furnishing  this  particular  information — 
which  when  given  to  the  sender  helps  him  to  check  up  and 
correct  his  mailing  list. 

377.  Mailing  Without  Stamps. — ^Upon  application  to  the 
postmaster  at  the  office  of  mailing,  permits  may,  under 
provisions  of  Sec.  459,  P.  L.  &  R.,  be  issued  to  persons  or 
concerns  for  mailing  first-class  matter,  quantities  not  less 
than  300  identical  pieces  of  third-class  matter,  and  250 
identical  pieces  of  matter  of  the  fourth  class  without  the 


452         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

affixing  of  stamps,  the  postage  thereon  being  paid  in  money, 
provided  the  mailings  are  presented  in  accordance  with 
the  conditions  under  which  such  mailings  are  accepted. 

First-class  matter  may  not  be  accepted  in  this  manner 
until  authority  to  do  so  shall  first  have  been  obtained  in  each 
instance  from  the  Third  Assistant  Postmaster  General, 
Division  of  Classification. 

Figs.  21  A  and  42  B  represent  forms  of  ''permits"  which 
must  be  imprinted  upon  such  mailings. 

378.  Mailing  with  Precanceled  Postage  Stamps. — Pre- 
eanceled  stamps  may  be  used  only  by  the  persons  or  con- 
cerns who  have  been  given  a  permit  to  use  them.  Such 
stamps  are  good  for  the  payment  of  postage  only  on  matter 
of  the  third  and  fourth  classes  and  must  be  presented  for 
mailing  at  the  office  where  canceled.  Permit  must  be  se- 
cured as  in  Section  377. 

The  use  of  precanceled  stamps  (often  used  to  seal  the 
folder  or  broadside,  though  the  post  office  does  not  par- 
ticularly like  this,  as  a  rule)  saves  time,  makes  it  unneces- 
sary for  the  mail  to  go  through  the  canceling  machine,  per- 
mits the  mailer  to  put  the  pieces  into  bundles,  and  avoids 
crushing,  marring,  or  otherwise  injuring  the  finely  printed 
folders,  etc. 

379.  The  Recent  Ruling  as  to  Space  on  Front  of  Mail- 
ing Pieces. — A  comparatively  recent  ruling,  which  has 
caused  no  end  of  trouble  for  direct  advertisers,  in  Para- 
graph 3  of  Section  470  of  P.  L.  &  R.,  requires  that  not  less 
than  3i/>  inches  of  clear  space  shall  be  left  at  the  right  end 
of  the  address  side  of  all  envelopes,  folders,  etc.,  and  in  case 
of  envelopes  or  folders  which  are  wider  or  deeper  than 
ordinary  envelopes  of  the  same  length  there  should  be  left 
in  the  upper  right-hand  corner  of  the  address  side  a  space 
not  less  than  3T/>  x  ly^  inches  for  the  package  stamp  and 
legible  postmarking,  and  at  the  lower  right  corner  of  that 
side  a  space  not  less  tlian  3^/4  x  2  inches  should  be  left  for 
the  name  and  address  of  the  addressee,  directions  for 
forwarding  or  return,  etc.  Under  date  of  September  4. 
1020,  the  acting  Third  Assistant  Postmaster  General  in- 


THE  POSTAL  REQUIREMENTS  453 

formed  the  author  in  response  to  a  direct  query,  "...  This 
clear  space  should  extend  entirely  across  that  [face]  side 
from  top  to  the  bottom." 

Attention  is  also  called  to  the  fact  that  even  the  use  of 
the  "permit"  or  precanceled  stamp  system  of  mailing  will 
not  exempt  a  piece  from  this  ruling.  ; 

Colored  envelopes,  folders,  etc.,  especially  in  the  darker 
colors,  are  also  banned  by  this  ruling,  as  are  also  unusual 
sizes,  irregular  shapes,  and  those  having  excessive  printing 
on  the  face. 

In  some  cases  the  objectionable  sizes  are  extremely  large 
and  in  other  instances  very  small,  while  in  still  others  tri- 
angular or  other  irregular  shape,  so  the  Post  Office  Depart- 
ment for  the  past  several  years  has  been  trying  to  work 
down  all  advertising  pieces  to  approximately  4x9  inches 
when  ready  for  mailing,  confining  the  paper  to  white  "or 
very  light  tints  of  pink,  yellow,  or  manila." 

380.  Using  Postmasters  to  Recheck  Lists. — Postmasters 
may  not  furnish  lists,  under  Section  549,  paragraph  3  of 
P.  L.  &  R.     This  reads,  in  part : 

Lists  of  names  sent  to  postmasters  for  revision  must  be 
returned  to  the  sender  when  postage  is  provided  for  that 
purpose,  but  no  new  names  must  be  added  to  the  lists. 
Postmasters  may,  if  they  so  desire,  however,  cross  off  the 
names  of  those  who  have  moved  away  or  are  deceased. 

Yet  postmasters  may  revise  lists  and  if  a  letter  "selling" 
them  the  idea  accompanies  the  list  they  will  usually  re- 
spond to  it  to  save  themselves  future  trouble. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  Postal  Laws  and  Regulations 
do  not  require  the  postmasters  to  do  this.  The  Post  Office 
Department  permits  a  "reasonable  charge"  (60  cents  per 
hour)  to  be  made  for  this  work.  R.  B.  Rope,  of  the  Larkin 
Company,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  in  addressing  the  Detroit  conven- 
tion said:  "However,  in  our  experience  the  majority  of 
the  postmasters  make  no  charge,  deeming  the  correction  to 
their  own  advantage.  ...  A  few  days  ago  I  had  a  number 
of  our  town  lists  revised  with  the  following  showing:  117 
lists  containing  38,500  names  revised ;  4,989  or  13  per  cent 


454         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

canceled ;  number  of  postmasters  who  charged  for  the  ser- 
vice, 5 ;  total  amount  of  charges,  $3.25 ;  average  charge  per 
thousand  names  revised,  $.08. ' ' 

381.  Watch  for  Violations  of  Lottery  Laws  in  Adver- 
tising Contests. — Many  contests  are  conducted  in  house 
organs  and  by  other  forms  of  direct  advertising  and  you 
should  confer  with  your  post-office  officials  and  ascertain 
that  you  are  not  unconsciously  infringing  the  very  strict 
rules  bearing  upon  lotteries. 

382.  In  mailing  into  Canada  remember  that  custom 
stamps  are  necessary.  Write  to  the  Postmaster  at  Toronto, 
Canada,  for  details. 

Remember,  too,  that  United  States  stamps,  government 
return  cards,  etc.,  are  useless  to  Canadians  in  Canada. 

If  you  wish  your  mail  given  speedy  handling  and  the 
quantity  mailed  at  one  time  exceeds  1000  pieces,  always 
make  it  up  into  bundles  by  cities,  towns,  and  states.  See 
your  local  postmaster  in  regard  to  securing,  on  loan,  the 
necessary  mail  sacks  for  this  purpose  as  set  forth  in 
Section  352. 

Attention  should  also  be  called  to  the  several  patented 
devices  upon  the  market  which  permit  the  mailing  at  one 
time  of  a  first-class  letter  with  third-class  mail — each 
taking  its  respective  rate. 


PART  FIVE 

THE  PRACTICE  OF  EFFECTIVE 
DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


In  this  part  we  apply  the  principles  laid  down  in  Parts 
II  to  IV  inclusive,  by  citing  how,  in  many  different  indus- 
tries, one  or  more  pieces  of  direct  advertising  have  actually 
produced  direct  results.  We  also  show  how  direct  adver- 
tising has  been  effectively  used  in  solving  the  problems  of 
appealing  to  various  classes  of  buyers. 

This  division  will  be  valuable  both  for  reference  and  as 
an  '  *  annotation  of  cases, "  as  it  were,  helping  both  the  prac- 
titioner and  the  novice  both  easily  and  quickly  to  refer  to 
effective  campaigns. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

now  A  SINGLE  PIECE  HAS  BEEN  USED  EFFECTIVELY 

383.  Phenomenal  Returns  from  a  Heart-appeal  Cam- 
paign of  a  Single  Piece. — At  the  Indianapolis  Convention 
of  the  Associated  Advertising  Clubs  of  the  World  (1920), 
there  was  exhibited  a  campaign  of  a  single  piece  that  pro- 
duced phenomenal  returns. 

There  were  4,000,000  of  these  appeals  sent  out.  These 
were  mimeographed  (see  Section  329)  ;  even  the  signatures 
were  mimeographed  on  the  letters.  The  total  cost  of  mail- 
ing them  was  $200,000.  The  total  keyed  returns  was  $1,- 
200,000.  The  letter  itself  is  quoted  verbatim  in  Section 
384. 

Stylists  found  several  defects  in  the  letter.  One  state 
organization  of  Women's  Clubs  refused  to  mail  it.  Instead, 
that  organization  sent  out  a  Christmas  card  showing  the 
Christ  child,  the  three  wise  men  and  a  camel — and  did  not 
get  a  single  contribution. 

This  single  piece — and  it  is  not  often  that  a  single  piece 
will  make  a  successful  campaign — was  accompanied  by  a 
card  for  action.  The  card  epitomized  the  appeal  by  stat- 
ing that  "$5  will  do"  so  and  so,  "$60  will  do"  so  and  so — 
the  lengths  to  which  the  reader's  money  would  work  for  his 
emotions. 

You  will  note  that  not  a  word  in  the  letter  departs  from 
the  keynote  of  a  heart  appeal.  Such  appeal  throughout 
is  based  upon  the  foundation  of  right  action. 

The  letter,  which,  we  understand,  was  the  outcome  of 
the  cooperation  of  the  entire  writing  staff  of  the  I^iterary 
Digest,  took  for  granted  that  the  prospect  (addressee)  could 
buy — and  he  did. 

457 


458         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

384.  The  Letter  that  Produced  a  Million  and  a 
Quarter  for  Charity. — The  following  is  a  verbatim  copy 
of  the  letter  referred  to  in  Section  383 : 

Dear  Friend: 

Another  little  child  has  shriveled  up  and  died! 

The  mother,  creeping  back,  gaunt  and  cold,  from  the  desert, 
has  put  down  the  thin  little  bones  with  those  that  strew  the 
road,  so — many — miles,,  and  has  sunk  beside  them,  never  to 
rise  again. 

Only  a  little  child,  and  a  mother,  out  on  the  bleak  Ar- 
menian road — but  what  is  that  Vision  hovering  there — ^and 
what  is  that  Voice  the  cold  winds  bear  to  the  ears  of  our 
souls — "I  was  hungry,  and  ye  gave  me  no  meat — I  was  naked 
and  ye  clothed  me  not'"? 

To-day, — yes,  to-day — while  we  are  preparing  our  gifts 
for  Christmas — many  more  of  these  little  children — not  a 
hundred,  nor  a  thousand,  but  two  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand of  them — are  still  wandering  uncared  for  and  alone  in 
that  dead  land,  "their  weazened  skins  clinging  in  fear  to 
their  rattling  bones,"  and  they  are  crying  out  with  gasping 
breath,  "I  am  hungry !  I  am  hungry!  I  am  hungry!"  And 
the  Voice  of  One  who  watches  us  as  we  prepare  gifts  to  cele- 
brate His  birthday  comes  again  to  the  ears  of  our  souls — "I 
am  hungry!     7  am  hungry!     I  am  hungry!" 

Now  the  children  and  the  mothers  in  Armenia  are  dreading 
the  winter.  "Just  human  remnants,  they  are,  not  protected, 
many  of  them,  from  the  elements  by  even  the  dignity  of  rags." 
But  we  can  feed  and  clothe  those  perishing  ones — some 
of  them — before  it  is  too  late.  Herbert  Hoover  cables  from 
the  Caucasus:  "It  is  impossible  that  the  loss  of  20,000  lives 
can  at  this  day  be  prevented,  but  the  remaining  500,000 
CAN  possibly  be  saved."  They  need  not  starve,  and  freeze, 
and  die,  if  we  Avill  save  them. 

Open  now  your  heart  and  purse.  They  need  not  die! 
Give  ye  them  to  eat ! 

To-day  nearly  eight  hundred  thousand  destitute  Armenians 
— His  people — need  food  and  clothing.  He  took  little 
children  in  His  arms  and  blessed  them.  To-day  will  you  take 
one,  or  more,  of  these  sad,  cold,  hungry  little  children  of  Ar- 
menia into  your  arms  and  heart,  in  His  name,  and  give  them 
food,  and  warmth,  and  life? 


SINGLE  PIECE  USED  EFFECTIVELY       459 

"Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these, 
■    My  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me." 

The  pledge  card  for  your  Christmas  gift  to  Him  is  here  in 
this  letter. 

Faithfully  yours, 
Wm.  H,  Taft,  Henry  Morgenthau,  Alexander  J.  Hemp- 
hill, For  the  Executive  Committee. 

385.  A  Folder  Which  Produced  Results  When  Fol- 
lowed by  Salesmen. — The  Addressograph  Company, 
Chicago,  manufacturers  of  addresing  machines,  just  after 
the  war  and  before  the  war-appeal  had  become  overworked, 
sent  out  a  broadside  which  bore  on  the  outside  a  picture  of 
a  man  jumping  up  from  his  desk  as  a  bomb  exploded  near 
him,  with  the  sky  line  of  New  York,  or  some  other  big  city, 
in  the  dim  background,  and  this  heading:  "The  Value  of 
Being  Prepared." 

The  first  inside  fold — three  times  the  mailing  size — ^with 
pictures  read : 

TURNING  SETBACKS 
INTO  OPPORTUNITIES! 

Life  Looked  "Good"  to  a  Certain 
American  Business  Man 
Just  a  Few  Months  Ago. 

His  Factory — Flooded  with 

Orders — Worked    Overtime ! 
Ships  Carried  his  Goods  to 

All  Parts  of  the  World ! 

"Let  George  Do  the  Worrying,"  he  said — 
As  he  Enjoyed  his  Vacation  Far  Away 
From  the  Humdrum  of  Business. 

Then  Came  the  War 

Foreign  Trade  Was  Annihilated! 

Many — Hit  by  the  War — Stopped  Buying ! 

Prosperity  Staggered  Under  the  Blow! 

But  this  Man — Instead 
of  Losing — was 

Prepared — to  Win! 


460         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Opening  the  main  spread  we  read  as  a  headline:  " — And 
with  This  system  you  can  win!" 

The  illustration  was  a  drawer  of  mailing  stencils,  life- 
size,  with  a  description  of  the  machine  and  the  offer  of  a 
free  book  on  "The  Preparation  and  Care  of  Mailing  Lists." 

This  piece  produced  517  inquiries  from  25,612  pieces  at 
a  cost  of  $1135.  These,  followed  up  by  salesmen,  produced 
within  six  months  sales  amounting  to  over  $20,000. 

386.  Completing  the  Sale  of  a  Technical  Product  by 
Mail. — Technical  products  are  hard  to  sell,  for  technically 
trained  men  buy  not  "on  a  hunch,"  but  upon  facts.  There- 
fore this  accomplishment,  reported  to  Mailhag,  September, 
1920,  by  Vic  Dwyer,  will  be  interesting:  "A  Pittsburgh 
firm  selling  electric  coal-mining  machinery  mailed  676 
letters  to  prospects,  offering  small  centrifugal  pumps.  The 
results,  within  three  weeks,  were  21  replies,  5  inquiries  for 
pumps,  and  3  sales.  The  n-et  profit  on  the  3  sales  was  $470. 
The  cost  of  the  advertising  was  $48.27.  It  is  wortliy  of 
note  that  the  21  replies,  5  inquiries,  and  3  sales  were  all 
new  business  and  prospective  business,  and  that  the  3  orders 
were  closed  entirely  by  mail." 

387,  Four  Hundred  Letters  that  Obtained  401  Orders. 
— The  following  letter,  according  to  Printers'  Ink,  July  1, 
1919,  was  written  by  a  sixteen-year-old  school  boy,  just  as  it 
follows : 

Let  the  Commerce  Boy  "carry  on." 

June  15  your  office  staff  begin  their  vacations. 

While  they  play  we  work. 

At  that  time  we  are  out  of  school,  and  ready  to  serve  you  as 

Office   assistants,   stenograpliers,    bookkeepers,   translators, 
correspondents,  salesmen. 

This  is  our  chance  to  get  acquainted  and  prove  to  you  that 
we  are  wide-awake,  well  trained,  and  ready  to  "fill  in." 

Seven  hundred  Commerce  Boys  made  good  last  summer. 

If  you  can  use  us  in  your  office,  get  in  touch  with  our 
Placement  Bureau. 

Telephone  Columbus  2932. 

Very  truly  yours, 
Boys  of  the  High  School  of  Commerce. 


SINGLE  PIECE  USED  EFFECTIVELY       461 

The  letter  was  a  single-piece  campaign;  it  went  to  400 
employers  of  vacation  help*  and  as  a  direct  result  401  High 
School  of  Commerce  boys  were  placed  in  positions  for  the 
summer. 

388.  A  Four-page  Letter  that  Produced  Over  Five 
Million  Dollars. — The  following  letter,  written  by  my  good 
friend,  James  Wallen,  for  the  Manufacturers  and  Traders 
National  Bank  of  Buffalo,  in  connection  with  the  first  Lib- 
erty Loan  campaign,  was  mailed  to  27,000  prospects,  and 
produced  18,809  subscriptions,  totaling  $5,426,550,  or  one- 
fourth  of  the  city  of  Buffalo's  total  in  that  drive. 

"The  letter  was  printed  in  typewriter  type  in  black  on 
a  four-page  letter-sheet  71/2x101/4  inches,"  says  the  Mail- 
hag,  in  commenting  upon  the  piece,  which  follows: 

The  Liberty  Loan  provides  what  is  perhaps  the  first  op- 
portunity the  average  man  has  had  definitely  to  serve  his 
country. 

Because  we  are  convinced  of  the  absolute  necessity  of  pro- 
moting this  loan  with  all  of  the  power  we  may  possess,  the 
directors  and  officers  of  this  bank  are  appealing  to  you  to 
subscribe  at  once  and  to  interest  your  friends  and  your  em- 
ployees. 

We  appreciate  that  every  individual  has  business  problems, 
but  there  is  nothing  more  urgent  for  the  American  citizen 
than  the  subscription  of  this  loan.  As  a  people,  we  have 
been  teaching  American  children  about  the  patriots  of  the 
.  past.  Let  us  demonstrate  to  them  that  American  traditions 
of  devotion  to  Liberty  and  Righteousness  still  actuate  our 
lives. 

There  is  no  sacrifice  in  a  subscription  to  the  Liberty  Loan. 
As  bankers,  we  unhesitatingly  recommend  Liberty  bonds  for 
their  security  and  certainty  of  return.  They  are  as  good  as 
currency.  Should  the  Government  issue  other  bonds  later 
bearing  a  higher  rate  of  interest  (say  4  per  cent.),  these 
bonds  can  be  exchanged  so  as  to  enjoy  the  increase  in  rate. 
There  are  a  number  of  attractive  features  to  Liberty  bonds — 
they  are  exempt  from  Federal,  State,  and  local  taxes,  ex- 
cepting estate  and  inheritance  taxes.  No  commission  or  bro- 
kerage fees  are  charged  by  the  bank  for  handling.     In  fact, 


462         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

this  bank  is  advertising  these  bonds   at  its  own   expense, 
which  is  a  considerable  item. 

On  the  inside  pages  of  this  letter,  you  will  find  a  digest 
of  facts  about  the  Liberty  Loan  and  the  terms  offered  by  the 
United  States  Government.  You  will  also  observe  four  plans 
of  subscription  in  which  this  bank  is  willing  to  coopera-te 
with  you.  The  inclosed  card  will  enable  you  to  subscribe  by 
mail.  The  plans  of  subscription  are  numbered.  Indicate 
your  preference  on  the  card.  Serve  your  country  with  a 
few  strokes  of  the  pen. 

Sincerely, 

Harry  T.  Ramsdell,  President. 

389.  A  Broadside  Smash  That  Produced  Over  Thirty 
Per  Cent  Returns.— Uuder  the  title,  "Gillette's  Most  Ef- 
fective Dealer  Campaign,"  Printers'  Ink,  in  the  issue  of 
January  4,  1917,  describes  a  broadside  of  dight  pages,  161/0 
X  10%,  printed  in  colors,  with  plenty  of  illustrations,  that 
was  sent  to  110,000  dealers,  including  hardware  stores,  drug- 
gists, and  department  stores.  In  this  number  there  were  a 
few  nondealers.  The  broadside  was  to  tie  up  Gillette  safety 
razor  and  Christmas  in  the  dealer's  mind  and  to  get  the 
dealer  to  order  and  agree  to  use  a  window  trim.  A  govern- 
ment return  postal  was  inclosed  and  over  30,000 — 30  per 
cent  of  these — came  back. 

Lack  of  space  forbids  our  quoting  the  entire  copy ;  those 
interested  are  referred  to  the  issue  of  Printers'  Ink  men- 
tioned in  the  preceding  paragraph. 

The  first  fold  opened  with  this  headline : 

GIVE  HIM 

a   ? 

SEE  THAT  QUESTION  MARK? 

Here's  the   answer — now   listen! 

Turning  the  last  page,  the  dealer  saw  a  picture  of  dollars 
flying  into  a  cash  register  and  read,  in  part : 

HERE'S  WHERE  "YOU"  COME  IN 

Now,  as  a  merchant,  you  can  estimate  tlie  business  this 
"Give  Him  a  Gillette"  drive  of  Magazine,  Posters,  and  News- 
papers is  bound  to  create  for  some  merchant  in  your  town. 


SINGLE  PIECE  USED  EFFECTIVELY        463 

Who  is  PToing  to  cash  iu  on  this  business  and  bank  the 
substantial  profits'?  There  is  a  big  slice  of  it  coming  to 
you — if 

YOU  TIE  YOUR  STORE  TO  THtS  ADVERTISING 

Stock  up.     And  bear  this  in  mind  a  lot  of  people  .  .  . 

The  broadside  also  received  the  cooperation  of  the  job- 
bers, "replies  being;  received  from  85  per  cent  of  those  to 
whom  it  was  sent." 

390.  Additional  Reference  to  Notable  Single-piece 
Campaigns. —  (a)  Mailbag,  August,  1920,  page  166.  A 
story  telling  how  Parker,  Bridget  Company,  Washington, 
D.  C,  sent  1500  one-dollar  bills  to  1500  prospects  with  a  let- 
ter whieh  began : 

The  enclosed  certificate  was  engraved  for  us  in  the  United 
States  Department  of  Printing  and  Engraving. 

We  want  you  to  test  our  store  service.  We  want  you  to 
"test  it  out"  at  our  expense.  For  this  purpose  we  are  en- 
closing, without  obligation  to  you,  the  real  dollar  bill. 

More  than  a  thousand  men  went  to  the  store  and  spent 
that  dollar  and  more  of  their  own. 

(&)  0.  A.  Owen  in  Postage  for  March,  1917,  gave  de- 
tails of  a  very  effective  single-piece  campaign.  The  re- 
sults were  25  per  cent  of  the  number  mailed.  In  a  plain 
white  envelope  there  was  mailed  a  return  postal  card  asking 
for  a  copy  of  a  "personally  conducted  trip  through  To- 
day's." The  postal  card  pictured  the  book  offered.  With- 
out this  picture,  test  mailings  showed  tha.t,25  per  cent  re- 
turns did  not  materialize. 

(c)  There  is  on  file  with  the  writer  an  interesting  single- 
piece  campaign  to  printers — usually  a  hard  class  to  reach. 
The  appeal  was  sent  out  on  note-size  letterhead  (see  Sec- 
tion 28)  to  a  list  of  2130  users  of  paper  cutters  offering  a 
free  book  about  this  firm's  knives  for  paper  cutters.  The 
returns  were  409  postals,  or  19.2  per  cent,  with  two  requests 
for  immediate  quotations. 


464        EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

(d)  The  following  references  will  be  helpful.  The  lim- 
ited space  prevents  our  quoting  more  at  length: 

Postage,  May,  1916,  page  19.  Use  of  single  pieces  of  direct 
advertising  to  test  all  forms  of  advertising. 

Pastage,  September,  1916,  page  185.  A  single  piece  that  was 
so  effective  as  to  cause  abandonment  of  the  rest  of  the  campaign. 

Postage,  January,  1917,  page  10.  Use  of  a  check  with  a  four- 
page  letter;  Arthur  D.  Patchen  produced  37  per  cent  replies  from 
a  list  of  1600  names.  Previous  best  record,  150  replies  from 
18,000  folders. 

Postage,  February,  1917,  page  65.  "Stunt"  piece  to  reach  rail- 
road purchasing  agents  produced  10  per  cent  inquiries. 

Postage,  January,  1919,  page  21.  Retailers'  letter  at  a  cost  of 
$2.40  brougiit  returns  of  $475.75. 

Printers'  Ink,  January  14,  1915,  page  17.  Single  letter  sold 
over  500  gross  Three-in-One  Oil. 

Printers'  Ink,  March  22,  1917,  page  118.  Letter  to  dealers  that 
produced  over  50  per  cent  replies  from  15,000  names. 

Printers'  Ink,  May  1,  1919,  page  83.  Mimeograplied  letter  to 
club  members  which  brought  bacik  42  per  cent  returns  with  cash. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

HOW  A  CAMPAIGN  OF  MORE  THAN  ONE  PIECE  HAS  BEEN 

USED  EFFECTIVELY  FOR  DIRECT  RETURNS 

WITHOUT    SALESMEN 

391.  Mail-order  Book  Sellers  Excellent  Examples  of 
This  Class  of  Advertisers. — In  Chapter  XXIV  we  take  up 
the  use  of  direct  advertising  in  answering  inquiries  and  in 
connection  with  other  forms  of  media.  In  this  chapter  we 
discuss  only  campaigns  of  more  than  one  piece  where  sales 
have  been  made  without  salesmen. 

While  mail-order  houses  in  general  are  large  users  of 
direct  advertising  they  quite  frequently  get  their  inquiries 
by  publication  or  other  form  of  advertising.  The  mail- 
order houses  which  sell  books  by  circularizing  "lists"  are 
excellent  examples  of  firms  working  on  this  basis. 

An  Ohio  sales-book  company,  however,  employing  more 
than  a  hundred  salesmen  regularly,  finds  that  from  time 
to  time,  frequently  for  several  months,  it  has  "open"  terri- 
tory; that  is,  territory  where  it  is  temporarily  without  a 
salesman.  This  company  has  a  system  of  direct  advertising 
that  operates  in  open  territories  only,  and  yet  it  gets  from 
$5,000  to  $6,000  per  month  of  traceable  sales  by  direct  ad- 
vertising from  these  open  territories. 

392.  More  Than  Fifty  Thousand  Dollars'  Worth  of 
Candy  with  a  Three-piece  Campaign. — The  Union  Candy 
Company  of  St.  Louis  sells  entirely  by  mail.  The  following 
pieces  were  multigraphed  letters  sent  to  a  list  of  wholesale 
candy  buyers.  The  first  mailing  was  accompanied  by  sticks 
of  the  candy.  The  list  consisted  of  1,000  wholesale  grocers 
located  near  St.  Louis.  The  first  letter  was  followed  up  by 
two  additional  pieces  of  a  similar  nature  and  the  campaign 
produced  in  excess  of  $50,000  worth  of  stick-candy  business 

465 


466         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

from  this  list.  The  first  letter  referred  to  brought  the 
larger  part  of  this  return  for  it  was  the  one  accompanied 
by  samples.  These  consisted  of  four  sticks  of  candy  put 
into  a  small  cardboard  box,  wrapped  securely,  and  then 
slipped  into  a  clasp  envelope  with  the  letter  itself.  ''The 
letter  must  have  received  almost  100  per  cent  attention," 
is  the  comment  of  the  Ross-Gould  Company,  who  produced 
it.  The  same  company  later  proved  the  efficacy  of  another 
campaign  of  sampling,  by  mailing  out  a  separate  single 
piece  accompanied  by  a  stick  of  peanut  sugar  candy,  and 
obtained  $6,000  worth  of  business  in  a  dull  candy  month. 
The  letter  which  produced  the  bulk  of  the  $50,000  read : 

Let  us  introduce  Billy  Burke  Pure  Sugar  Stick  Candy  at  a 
price  5  per  cent  lower  than  you  are  now  paying  tor  a  stick 
not  as  good. 

This  product  is  as  perfect  as  stick  candy  can  humanly  be 
produced.  It  is  absolutely  pure  sugar  candy  and  will  keep 
in  any  climate.  Taste  it  and  assure  yourself  of  its  goodness. 
Note  its  zest  and  snap;  its  whiteness  and  bright  color;  its 
sparkle  in  the  light ;  its  brittleness  and  hardness. 

And  its  name  is  especially  attractive.  All  American  chil- 
dren know  and  love  this  beautiful  movie  actress,  and  will 
remember  their  favorite  candy  every  time  they  see  her.  The 
cartons  containing  the  candy  are  also  attractive. 

This  confection  can  be  a  huge  profit-maker  for  you. 
There  are  100  sticks  in  every  carton  and  6  cartons  to  a  case. 
Our  price  to  you  is  $3.50  per  case  less  5  per  cent  cash,  10 
days,  net  price  $3..33  f.o.b.  St.  Louis.  Your  selling  price 
should  be  at  least  $4.50  on  a  penny  seller,  which  would  give 
you  36  per  cent  margin. 

In  your  position  as  the  buyer  for  your  concern,  you  are,  of 
course,  an  expert  in  the  candy  market.  You  know  just  what 
the  candy  situation  is  to-day.  You  will  realize  at  once,  there- 
fore, that  this  offer  of  ours  is  at  least  5  per  cent  better  than 
any  price  you  can  get.  And  we  know  that  the  candy  itself  is 
so  much  superior  to  any  other  that  the  sales  will  be  enormous. 

We  can  offer  you  this  exceptional  price  because  we  have 
no  salesmen's  commissions  to  pay.  By  ordering  through  the 
mail  you  help  us  to  keep  down  our  selling  cost  and  you  get 
the  benefit. 


DIRECT  RETURNS  WITHOUT  SALESMAN    467 

The  blank  inclosed  will  make  it  easy  for  you  to  order. 
Let  us  send  you  at  least  10  cases.  They  will  be  gone  in  no 
time  because,  as  you  know  yourself,  this  candy  is  a  staple 
article — always  a  seller.  * 

Very  truly  yours, 

Union  Candy  Company, 

Irvin  J.  Hesley. 
IJH-RG 

The  Billy  Burke  factory  is  again  on  full  peace-time  basis. 
During  the  war  we  devoted  much  of  our  capacity  to  feeding 
our  boys  here  and  abroad. 

393.  Selling  a  High-priced  Product  by  Mail. — The  Van 
Sicklen  Company,  Elgin,  111.,  accomplished  something  un- 
usual in  selling  entirely  by  mail  a  high-priced  device  known 
as  the  Chronometric  Tachometer.  Printers'  Ink  Monthly, 
for  January,  1920,  in  describing  the  campaign,  said:  "A 
carefully  selected  list  of  1900  was  prepared  from  the  two 
best  engineering  societies." 

Two  four-page  letterheads  were  used.  The  first  page  car- 
ried a  reproduction  of  the  firm's  regular  letterhead,  with  a 
processed  letter,  individually  addressed  and  bearing  a  pen- 
and-ink  signature.  The  double  inside  spread  carried  selling 
arguments,  illustrations,  etc.  The  fourth  page  was  blank. 
The  two  pieces  were  sent  under  one-cent  postage,  folded 
once  to  a  7  X  3%  size,  showing  a  blind  caption  and  sealed 
with  a  red  seal.  A  return  postal  card  (not  stamped,  call- 
ing for  a  descriptive  catalogue)  was  inclosed.  The  cata- 
logue, a  24-page  book,  5  x  7i/^  inches,  told  the  complete 
story  and  was  generously  illustrated.  In  all  275  inquiries 
were  received,  out  of  which  21  sales  were  made  in  January, 
1920,  with  a  prospect  of  not  fewer  than  25  more  to  follow. 

An  especially  interesting  point  about  this  campaign  is  the 
fact  that,  as  Printers'  Ink  Monthly  says,  "personal  solici- 
tation was  tried  out  and  found  unsuccessful.  Salesmen 
took  too  much  time  for  missionary  work. ' ' 

394.  One  Campaign  an  Endless  Chain. — Of  course, 
strictly  speaking,  "endless  chains"  are  contrary  to  the 
Postal  Rules  and  Regulations  and  we  are  using  the  term 


468         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

only  in  the  figurative  sense,  but  the  business  of  the  Parker- 
Warren  Co.,  New  York,  approaches  the  endless  chain  idea. 
The  business  is  that  of  sharpening  and  resharpening  safety- 
razor  blades.  The  firm  does  no  advertising  other  than  by 
its  unique  method  of  packing.  You  send  it  blades  to  be 
resharpened  and  they  are  returned  in  a  neat,  little,  wooden 
box  filled  with  popcorn,  under  a  circular  which  reads: 

REDGE  POPCORN  PACKING 

Not  a  joke,  but  an  original,  practical  idea. 
We  use  popcorn  for  packing,  because — 
It  is  neat — makes  no  muss. 
Light  in  weight — it  saves  postage. 
It  is  elastic — holds  blades  gently  and  securely. 
Absorbs  moisture — protects  blades  from  rusting. 
Use  paper — crumpled  up  looskly — if  popcorn  has  disap- 
peared. 

In  the  box  there  is  also  a  circular  telling  how  well  these 
blades  have  been  resharpened ;  an  envelope  for  the  return  of 
any  unsatisfactory  blades ;  an  oil-leaved  book  for  sending 
another  lot ;  string  for  tying  up  the  box  for  its  return  trip ; 
even  the  postage  stamps  required  for  its  return.  Cards  are 
inclosed  for  the  names  of  prospects,  and  to  each  of  these  a 
box — minus  blades — is  sent.  You  will  find  pictures  of  this 
unique  campaign  in  Mailbag  for  July,  1918,  on  page  84. 

395.  Doubling  a  Club's  Membership  by  a  Two-piece 
Campaign. — On  February  1,  1920,  the  membership  of  the 
Advertising  Club  of  Atlanta  was  200,  while  on  July  1, 
1920,  it  was  400.  This  increase,  according  to  an  article 
appearing  in  the  issue  of  Associated  Advertising  for  Au- 
gust, 1920,  was  brought  about  by  a  campaign  of  two  let- 
ters. With  each  letter  was  inclosed  a  sales  pamphlet  giv- 
ing the  "reasons  why"  the  prospect  should  become  a  mem- 
ber of  the  club.  The  letters  were  multigraphed  and  filled 
in  to  match.  They  were  mailed  to  600  prospects.  From 
this  campaign  the  membership  of  the  club  was  doubled. 

396.  Selling  a  High-grade  Magazine  by  Mail. — From 
Direct  Advertising,  Vol.  4,  No.  1,  we  learn  that  the  Atlantic 


DIRECT  RETURNS  WITHOUT  SALESMAN    469 

Monthly,  a  high-grade,  high  priced  magazine,  added  53,000 
to  its  circulation  by  mail  solicitation.  "For  our  own  in- 
dividual problem,  I  do  not  believe  any  other  method  of  ad- 
vertising would  have  served  the  purpose,"  was  the  comment 
of  MacGregor  Jenkins,  publisher  of  the  magazine. 

"Our  circulation  to-day  is  81,032,  of  which  49,000  are  sub- 
scribers. That  makes  a  gain  of  27,800  subscribers  since  we 
started  our  direct-advertising  campaign  in  1912,"  he  added. 

The  method  of  soliciting  subscriptions  is  by  means  of  a 
booklet  issued  annually  called  the  Almanac.  In  addition, 
order  blanks,  circular  letters,  etc.,  are  used. 

397.  Proof  that  a  Series  of  Appeals  Pays. — ^William  C. 
Trewin  tells  an  interesting  story  in  Postage  for  April, 
1918,  which  describes  a  campaign  of  six  letters  that  was 
planned  to  sell  a  timber  tract,  each  letter  giving  additional 
facts  about  the  tract.  At  the  time  the  third  letter  was  sent 
the  advertiser  was  much  discouraged,  but  decided  to  keep 
on.  The  fifth  mailing  put  the  owner  in  touch  with  a  person 
who  verified  the  calculations  and  findings  and  bought  the 
entire  tract  for  $15,000.  The  cost  of  the  land  originally 
was  $550.  The  charge  of  the  letter-writer  was  $150  for 
services,  including  writing  the  letters;  for  duplicating  $100, 
making  a  total  expense  of  about  $800,  not  counting  the  post- 
age, stationer}^  and  the  time  of  the  first  owner  which  was 
spent  in  locating  the  tract. 

398.  Collecting  by  Mail. — A  New  York  sales  agent  who 
sells  entirely  on  credit  has  developed  the  following  figures, 
which  were  published  originally  in  Ideas.  This  firm  sells 
by  mail  exclusively  and  takes  back  goods  within  30  days, 
should  the  customer  desire  it. 

The  figures  of  the  business  show  that  the  money  is  col- 
lected by  mail  as  follows: 

53.5%  within     15   days   from  date   of  shipment 
91.9%  30 

97.3%  75 

98.6%  120 

99.5%  270 

.5%  is  then  automatically  charged  off  to  profit  and  loss. 


470         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

These  figures  give  concrete  evidence  of  the  value  of  a  per- 
sistent campaign  to  collect  money  by  mail. 

399.  Additional  References  to  Campaigns  of  Two  or 
More  Pieces,  Without  Salesmen. 

Postage,  February,  1917,  page  85.  Campaign  to  get  testi- 
monials by  mail. 

Postage,  April,  1917,  page  152.  Campaign  to  introduce 
through  wholesalers  a  new  temperance  drink. 

Advertising  &  Selling,  Januaiy  10,  1920,  page  34.  Selling 
tea  and  coffee  by  mail,  illustrated  article. 

Mailbag,  April,  1917,  page  5.  Selling  securities  by  mail, 
especial  reference  to  mailing  list  divisions. 

Mailbag,  December,  1917,  page  220.  Marketing  movies  (films) 
by  mail,  series  of  six  letters  by  Jack  Carr. 

Mailbag,  March,  1919,  page  282.  How  an  English  advertising 
man  sells  eggs  direct  by  mail. 

Mailbag,  December,  1919,  page  212.  How  Wrigley's  use  the 
mails  to  distribute  millions  of  sample  sticks  of  their  three  kinds 
of  gum, 

Mailbag,  February,  1920,  page  297.  Using  mails  to  sell  adver- 
tising space,  by  Jack  Carr. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

HOW  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  HAS  BEEN  USED  EFFECTIVELY 
IN   CONJUNCTION  WITH   SALESMEN 

400.  It  should  be  understood  at  the  outset  that  in  this 
chapter  we  have  reference  only  to  the  direct  salesmen  of  the 
manufacturer,  service  organization,  or  other  seller  of  that 
class,  and  we  are  not  considering  work  done  for  retailers' 
salesmen.  For  example,  we  shall  take  up  results  secured  by 
manufacturers  for  their  own  salesmen;  insurance  compan- 
ies for  their  salesmen,  and  so  on,  leaving  the  work  done  for 
retailers'  salesmen  by  manufacturers,  etc.,  to  Chapter 
XXVI,  and  the  work  done  for  them  by  the  retailers  them- 
selves to  Chapter  XXVII. 

401.  Two  Main  Methods  of  Cooperating  with  Sales- 
men.— There  are  two  main  methods  of  cooperating  with 
salesmen  through  direct  advertising :  preceding  their  calls 
either  to  secure  inquiries  or  pave  the  way  for  favorable 
attention;  or,  following  up  their  calls  and  between  widely 
separated  calls  to  keep  interest  alive. 

402.  Comparative  Cost  of  Sending  "Mail"  Salesmen 
Ahead  of  "Male"  Salesmen. — There  are  before  us  statis- 
tics prepared  by  one  of  the  country's  large  manufacturers, 
showing  that  even  before  the  1920  raise  in  passenger  fares 
the  average  cost  per  call  per  salesman  was  $11.23. 

The  cost  of  a  personal  letter,  naturally  the  most  expen- 
sive type  of  direct  advertising,  accompanied  by  an  in- 
closure,  such  as  a  leaflet,  booklet,  etc.,  averages  about  50 
cents. 

Thus  it  takes  25  personally  dictated  letters  with  a  piece 
of  well-printed  literature  inclosed  to  equal  the  cost  of  a 
salesman 's  call.  This  firm  sends  out  but  three  letters  prior 
to  each  salesman's  personal  call.     During  the  year,  when 

471 


472         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

practically  no  letters  were  written  to  help  the  work  of 
"backing  up"  or  to  precede  the  salesmen,  the  travelers 
averaged  one  order  for  seven  calls.  Since  the  adoption  of 
the  three  letters  and  a  booklet  to  announce  and  back  up 
the  men  on  the  road,  and  to  keep  the  customer  in  touch 
with  the  house  between  calls,  the  salesmen  have  been  able 
to  secure  one  order  in  every  five  calls. 

Almost  every  city  raises  money  for  some  form  of  charity. 
It  is  interesting  to  learn  that  one  city,  wlrere  it  was  the 
custom  each  year  to  solicit  funds  for  a  fresh-air  camp  for 
babies,  decided  to  precede  the  "salesmen"  with  some  direct 
advertising.  On  the  desk  of  every  worker  in  offices  in  the 
city  one  morning  was  placed  a  mimeographed  letter  set- 
ting forth  the  urgent  need  of  the  funds,  and  the  next  morn- 
ing, the  day  of  the  collection,  this  was  followed  up  with  a 
second — a  short — letter.  The  increased  results  the  year  this 
plan  was  operated  as  compared  with  those  of  the  year  before 
when  the  collectors  were  not  so  preceded  by  direct  adver- 
tising was  900  per  cent. 

Salesmen's  advance  cards  (see  Fig.  22)  are  the  simplest 
form  of  "paving  the  way,"  but  naturally  the  only  method 
of  measuring  results  from  their  use  is  somewhat  along  the 
line  of  that  set  forth  in  the  preceding  paragraphs.  For 
those  particularly  interested  in  salesmen's  advance  cards, 
see  Printers'  Ink  Monthly  for  October,  1920,  page  116; 
Mailhag  for  September,  1920,  page  199. 

The  Sales  Manager  Monthly,  for  January,  1921,  page 
207,  carries  the  story  of  how  the  White  &  Wyckoff  Manu- 
facturing Company  sells  its  salesman  to  the  prospect  prior 
to  the  call  of  the  salesman  himself.  Not  only  are  the  usual 
salesman's  cards  used  but  a  "Watch  for  Ilim"  poster  card 
is  issued  about  the  time  the  salesmen  take  the  road  for  the 
season's  work. 

403.  The  Burroughs  "Club"  Plan  of  Preceding  Sales- 
men with  Direct  Advertising. — For  a  long  period  the 
Burrouglis  Adding  IMachine  Company  of  Detroit,  Michigan, 
has  been  using  what  it  terms  a  "club"  plan  of  preceding 
salesmen    with    direct    advertising.     This    is    the    modus 


EFFECTIVE  WOKK  WITH  SALESMEN      473 

operandi,  described  in  the  issue  of  Mailhag  for  June,  1917 : 
Each  sales  manager,  salesman,  and  junior  salesman  is 
expected  to  send  in  once  a  month  a  list  of  not  more  than 
fifty  names  of  prospects  which  he  desires  to  **work." 
This  limit  is  set  because  salesmen  cannot  cover  more  than 
that  number  in  a  month.  The  names  within  a  territory  are 
chosen  according  to  zone  location  and  ease  of  covering. 
These  names  are  sent  in  on  a  special  order  blank,  which 
contains  instructions  to  the  salesman  as  to  how  to  fill  in 
the  names,  specifically  warning  him  that  the  company's 
campaigns  for  manufacturers,  wholesalers  and  retailers, 
all  differ.    The  following  data  are  required  with  each  name : 

Finn   

Individual    

Individual 

Individual    

Business    Mf r.     Large. 

Street  address  Whole.     Small. 

City  and  State Retail. 

Burroughs  User. 

Remarks 

Foreign  user. 

Of  interest  to  us  in  connection  with  this  campaign  is  the 
conclusion  of  the  Burroughs  Advertising  Department — 
based  upon  extensive  experience — ^that  the  most  important 
factors  in  influencing  a  sale  are :  First,  satisfactory  use  of 
Burroughs  equipment  by  some  concern  in  the  same  line  of 
business;  and,  secondly,  the  satisfactory  use  of  such  equip- 
ment by  a  concern  in  the  same  locality  in  which  the  pros- 
pect is  located.  Local  interest  is  of  less  importance  with 
the  large  concerns,  because  of  the  breadth  of  vision ;  but 
the  smaller  the  concern,  the  narrower  its  vision  and  the 
greater  the  importance  of  local  interest,  or  what  we  have 
termed  "personalizing"  (see  Section  192). 

The  company  consequently  has  over  200  bulletins  or 
business  "stories,"  divided  first  into  these  classifications: 
Banks,  Financial  Institutions,  Government;  Public  Serv- 
ice.  Wholesalers,   Retailers,   Manufacturers,   and  General. 


474         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Each  of  these,  in  turn,  is  subdivided.  For  example,  under 
Retailers,  come  Dry  Goods,  Hardware,  Meats,  Drugs,  etc. 
See  Fig.  18  for  two  of  these  bulletins. 

Six  pieces  are  mailed  in  each  series,  and  a  complete 
series  to  a  retail  grocer  in  Georgia  would  be: 

1.  More  Profit  for  Moore.     This  starts  off  with  a  "darky" 

storj',  about  something  happening  in  a  grocery  store 
(named)  in  Ruxton,  La. 

2.  In  a  Dixie   Crossroad  Store.     This  begins,  "Mapmakers 

and  census-takers  don't  waste  much  time  at  McCollum, 
Ga." 

3.  Groceries  Minus  Guesswork.     This  one  opens  with  a  refer- 

ence to  Garland  Willoughby  of  Bowling  Green,  Ken- 
tucky, also  a  grocer. 

4.  Keeping  Pace  with  Quality.     Here  we  get  a  quality  angle, 

with  another  Southern  grocery  mentioned. 

5.  Baffling   the  Profit  Burglars.     "A    'lookout'  watched  the 

road  while  two  pals  worked  inside.  Entrance  to  Crump 
Brothers'  general  store  on  the  Old  Raleigh  road  six 
miles  out  of  Memphis,"  we  read  on  this  piece. 

6.  Where  Others  Failed.     This  sixth  and  last  piece  carries  a 

heavily  displayed  subtitle:  *A  Story  of  Success  by 
Paul  G.  Manget,  Proprietor,  Newnan  Grocery  Com- 
pany, Newnan,  Georgia," 

One  gets  well  into  these  "stories"  before  he  realizes  their 
purpose.  No  mention  is  made  of  the  machine  until  page 
2  or  3  is  reached  and  then  only  naturally  in  the  unfolding 
of  the  story. 

The  salesmen  are  followed  up  with  a  special  card  coinci- 
dentally  with  the  last  mailing,  one  of  which  goes  out  each 
week. 

404.  Selling  a  Thirteen-Thousand-Dollar  Automobile 
to  the  Ultra-tired  by  Direct  Advertising. — Perhaps  the 
strongest  case  ever  made  for  direct  advertising  to  precede 
salesmen  was  a  bit  peculiar.  In  this  instance  the  prospect 
actually  came  to  the  manufacturer's  place  and  bought 
from  the  salesmen.  The  plan  was  formulated  to  introduce 
the  Fageol  automobile,  with  one  of  the  costliest  chassis  in 
the  world,  selling  for  $10,000  alone,  the  total  sales  price 


EFFECTIVE  WORK  WITH  SALESMEN       475 

averaging  $13,000.  Included  in  the  selling  plan  was  the 
placing  of  one  of  these  cars  on  display  at  the  Biltmore  in 
New  York  City  and  inducing  multimillionaires  to  see  it. 

Tim  Thrift,  with  the  aid  of  J.  Frank  Eddy  of  the  Dando 
Company,  who  handled  the  .campaign,  tells  the  story  in 
Mailhag  for  December,  1917.  Briefly  it  was  this:  The 
first  mailing  was  to  a  list  of  2,457  multimillionaires.  It 
consisted  of  a  four-page  folder,  a  processed,  filled-in  letter, 
and  an  engraved  invitation. 

The  folder,  four  pages,  7  x  10  inches,  on  deckle-edged 
antique  stock,  printed  in  black  and  red,  read  in  part  as 
follows : 

THE  FAGEOL  CAR 

"The  most  wonderful  product  of  a  wonderful  century" 

A  speed  of  116  miles  per  hour  with  reserve  speed  left. 
The  Fageol  car  will  travel  60  miles  an  hour  with  throttle 
half    open.     At    that    speed    the    motor,   with    which    it    is 
equipped,  is  making  but  one-half  its  rated  revolutions. 
The  Fageol  has  the  costliest  chassis  in  the  world. 

In  workmanship,  skill,  and  quality  of  material  nothing 
domestic  or  foreign  approaches  it. 

The  motor  which  drives  the  Fageol  car  costs  more  than 
most  complete  cars. 

The  Fageol  ear  wall  be  on  exhibition  at  the  Hotel  Biltmore 
from  October  1  to  6,  inclusive. 

Attendance  by  invitation  only. 

Twenty-five  reservations  only  can  be  filled. 

The  letter  accompanying  this  first  mailing  read: 

Dear  Sir: 

In  addition  to  the  extraordinary  facts  contained  on  en- 
closed folder  we  wisli  to  state  that  this  car,  at  a  recent  dinner, 
was  placed  in  the  center  of  the  dining-room,  a  space  being 
left  for  ear  operation  75  feet  long  and  18  feet  wide. 

The  car  was  started,  attained  a  speed  of  25  miles  per  hour, 
and  was  stopped  within  the  necessary  75  feet. 

The  full  performance  took  four  seconds. 

This,  you  will  of  course  understand,  breaks  all  records  and 
shows  the  wonderful  "pick-up"  of  the  car. 


476         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

The  Fageol,  may  be  run  one  mile  per  hour  or  116  miles  per 
hour — faster  if  one  dares. 

We  enclose  invitation  to  exhibition  (and  subsequent 
personal  demonstration  if  you  wish)  which  we  sincerely  trust 
you  will  take  advantage  of. 

Cordially  yours, 

Hester  Motors,  Inc., 
H.  C.  K.  Hester,  President. 

The  engraved  invitation  read : 

You  are  respectfully  invited  to  attend 

A   SPECIAL  EXHIBITION 

of 

THE  FAGEOL   CAR 

at  the  Hotel  Biltmore 
October  first  to  sixth,  inclusive 
Nineteen  Hundred  and  Seventeen 
From  Nine  A.  M.  to  Twelve  Midnight. 

A  second  and  final  letter  was  sent  out  which  read  as  fol- 
lows: 

Dear  Sir: 

There  is  one  car  in  the  world  that  makes  its  owner  master 
of  the  road. 

No  other  car  in  the  world  can  pass  it. 

That  car  is  the  Fageol. 

It  can  go  one  mile  per  hour,  or  one  hundred  and  sixteen 
miles  an  hour — or  faster. 

It  can,  in  the  space  of  seventy-five  feet  start,  attain  a  speed 
of  twenty-five  miles  an  hour,  stop,  without  shock — and  do  it 
in  four  seconds. 

The  Fageol  ear,  doing  things  hitherto  deemed  impossible 
and  incredible,  simply  culminates  the  fruit  of  the  Twentieth 
Century  invention. 

In  speed,  durability,  power,  and  luxury,  it  transcends  any- 
thing yet  conceived  or  known,  projecting  a  road  machine  with 
aeroplane  speed  and  glidinrj  ease. 

Exhibition  and  demonstration  of  the  Fageol  at  the  Biltmore 
Hotel  closes  October  6th.  Will  you  not,  prior  to  that  date, 
arrange  to  see  the  car  with  your  engineer  or  otherwise?  But 
twenty-five  are  available. 


EFFECTIVE  WITH  SALESMEN  477 

In  four  and  one-half  days  of  actual  selling  time  a  total 
volume  of  business  of  $260,000  had  been  written  for 
which  advertising  expense  was  practically  negligible. 

405.  Additional  References  for  Campaigns  "Preceding" 
Salesmen. — Campaigns  where  direct  advertising  has  effec- 
tively preceded  salesmen  will  be  found  in  the  following: 

Postage,  March,  1916,  page  34.  Story  of  campaign  to  precede 
printing  salesman;  nineteen  pieces  sent  to  list  in  a  period  of 
twenty-three  days. 

Postage,  July,  1916,  page  15.  How  Todd  Protectograph 
Company  precedes  its  salesmen  with  direct  advertising.  Told  by 
the  inimitable  Jack  Speare.     See  also  Mailbag,  April,  1917. 

Postage,  November,  1916,  page  245.  Noble  T.  Praigg  tells 
the  story  of  a  successful  campaign  paving  the  way  for  a,  sales- 
man of  corporation-partnership  insurance.     Illustrated. 

Postage,  December,  1916,  page  304.  Paving  the  way  for  casket 
salesman.  Volume  of  business  after  use  of  direct  advertising 
secured  in  one-third  time  it  formerly  took! 

Postage,  February,  1917,  page  53.  Clifford  Elvins  tells  the 
inside  story  of  the  famous  Imperial  Life  Assurance  Company  cam- 
paign. It  has  been  written  up  in  almost  every  advertising  publi- 
cation.    Letters,  folders,  booklets,  and  blotters  are  used. 

Postage,  April,  1918,  page  6.  How  Roycrofters  used  direct 
advertising  to  secure  85  per  cent  distribution. 

Printers'  Ink,  January  29,  1914.  Securing  "leads"  for  sales- 
men. 

Printers'  Ink,  July  22, 1915.  How  the  Worcester  Pressed  Steel 
Company  broke  the  ice  for  its  salesmen. 

Mailbag,  March,  1918,  page  291.  A  four-piece  campaign  pre- 
ceding salesmen,  which  from  a  list  of  15,000  names  brought  1021 
inquiries,  131  orders,  with  sales  of  $25,029,  at  a  cost  for  the  entire 
campaign  of  $1500. 

Charles  W.  Hoyt  in  "Scientific  Sales  Management" 
makes  this  statement :  "I  would  recommend  sending  six 
preliminary  pieces  to  a  list  of  two  thousand  possibilities." 

406.  Additional  References  to  Campaigns  "Backing 
Up"  Salesmen. — By  the  term  "backing  up"  we  have  ref- 
erence to  both  campaigns  following  a  salesman's  call,  and 
between  calls,  without  reference  to  his  next  visit.  Some 
references  on  this  score  are; 


478         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Printers'  Ink,  April  6,  1916.  John  Allen  Murphy  writes  of 
the  experiences  of  several  companies  in  selling  the  calls  their 
salesmen  miss. 

Printers'  Ink,  May  14,  1914.  Description  of  a  catalogue  that 
brings  in  20  per  cent  of  the  annual  business  between  salesmen's 
calls. 

Advertising  d;  Selling,  September,  1914.  Shows  how  Yaw- 
man  &  Erbe  Manufacturing  Company  boosted  mail  sales  of  $25.52 
average  to  $45.50  by  referring  prospects  to  salesmen  for  closing. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

HOW  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  HAS  BEEN  USED  EFFECTIVELY 

IN  CONJUNCTION   WITH   OTHER   FORMS,   SUCH 

AS  ANSWERING  INQUIRIES,  ETC. 

407.  A  Few  Typical  Campaigns  Showing  Interlocking 
of  Direct  Advertising  With  Other  Forms. — In  Sections  9 
to  15  inclusive  we  have  in  the  main  covered  this  point  of 
the  interlocking  of  direct  advertising  with  other  forms,  but 
direct  reference  to  a  few  typical  national  advertisers  and 
others  will  be  helpful. 

J.  Sidney  Johnson,  advertising  manager  of  the  Marshall 
Canning  Company,  Marshalltown,  Iowa,  in  addressing  the 
New  Orleans  meeting  of  the  Direct  Mail  Advertising  Asso- 
ciation (1919)  said,  in  part:  "By  means  of  personal  let- 
ters to  23,542  retail  grocers  this  year,  we  have  introduced 
Brown  Beauty  Beans  and  helped  to  make  these  dealers  bet- 
ter distributors  of  food  products.  In  conjunction  with  a 
national  campaign  in  magazines,  we  gave  selling  ideas  and 
suggestions  to  our  distributors  all  over  the  country.  The 
proof  of  the  effectiveness  of  the  plan  is  the  fact  that  58  per 
cent  of  the  distributing  agencies  have  been  established  this 
year  as  a  result  of  the  national  publicity  and  the  direct 
mail  literature. ' ' 

It  will  be  noted  that  in  two  different  places  Mr.  Johnson 
emphasized  the  tie-up  of  direct  and  national  advertising. 

Not  long  since  the  E.  I.  Du  Pont  De  Nemours  Company 
told  the  writer:  "We  have  approximately  a  half -million 
names  on  our  various  mailing  lists.  We  mail  an  average  of 
about  600,000  pieces  of  advertising  a  month.  Our  circu- 
larizing consists  of  booklets,  folders,  pictorial  matter,  mul- 
tigraph  letters  (some  filled-in  and  some  not),  typewritten 

479 


480         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

letters;  in  fact,  there  is  hardly  any  kind  of  mail  matter 
that  we  do  not  use  from  time  to  time.  .  A  large  majority 
of  our  circularizing  is  done  under  third-class  postage." 

About  the  same  time,  the  author,  then  Editor  of  Postage, 
approached  George  Frank  Lord,  formerly  director  of  ad- 
vertising for  the  Du  Pont  Company,  asking  for  an  article 
on  the  general  subject  of  direct  advertising  and  inquiring 
as  to  the  Du  Pont  Companies'  general  campaign.  Mr.  Lord 
replied,  in  part:  "We  are  using  $750,000  worth  of  space 
in  our  campaign.  All  of  the  standard  methods  of  adver- 
tising are  good;  some  are  of  more  value  to  certain  lines 
than  others.  We  use  almost  all  kinds — magazines,  trade 
papers,  farm  publications,  newspapers,  circularizing,  a 
house  organ,  painted  bulletins,  electric  signs,  displays,  and 
demonstrations.  We  believe  our  house  organ  is  unique  in 
several  respects, — it  has  a  monthly  circulation  of  250,000 
going  entirely  to  men  of  importance  in  the  business  world 
who  are  on  the  trade  lists  of  the  various  Du  Pont  industries. 
We  endeavor  to  conduct  it  as  a  magazine  first  and  a  house 
organ  second.  .  .  .  Our  magazine  costs  us  about  $150,000 
a  year,  the  postage  alone  being  $5,000  a  month.  .  .  .  We 
sell  our  advertising  space  at  standard  rates,  $1.25  a  line. 

"We  also  use  direct-mail  advertising  in  developing  paint 
prospects  by  sending  high-class  color  illustrated  matter  to 
names  of  property  owners  furnished  by  our  dealers.  We 
believe  profitable  results  are  always  feasible  in  direct-mail 
advertising,  if  the  lists  are  selected  with  care  and  suf- 
ficient brains  and  money  spent  on  the  class  of  matter 
sent." 

Perhaps  the  strongest  evidence  of  the  value  of  interlock- 
ing the  various  forms  of  direct  advertising  is  in  the  com- 
ment of  The  Literary  Digest,  one  of  the  bi^  nation;il  week- 
lies, which  a  short  time  ago  gave  out  the  following  informa- 
tion as  to  its  general  campaign : 

Our  investment  is  $750,000  a  year  in  400  newspapers. 
Our  yearly  investment  in  street  cars  for  cards  is  $300,000. 
The  most  important  feature  of  the  plan  is  not  so  evident.  It 
is  a  part  of  our  main  campaign,  "the  object  of  which  is  not 


IN  CONJUNCTION  WITH  OTHER  FORMS      481 

only  to  secure  new  subscribers  but  to  increase  the  national 
prestige  of  The  Literary  Dipest.  There  are  approximately 
9,000,000  (1918  figures)  telephone  subscribers  in  the  United 
States.  Three  times  a  year  we  write  6,000,000  of  the  best 
of  them  a  personal  letter  telling  them  about  the  editorial 
features  of  the  publication  and  soliciting  their  subscriptions. 
In  the  larger  cities  we  send  these  letters  under  first-class 
postage.  .  .  .  Our  newspaper  work  this  last  year  has,  of 
course,  made  this  direct-by-mail  work  more  productive.  We 
find  that  each  kind  of  advertising  we  do  helps  the  others  and 
they  all  dovetail  in  together  as  to  the  various  forms  of  ad- 
vertising done  by  national  advertisers.  ...  I  wish  to  em- 
phasize this  fact,  that  every  subscriber  to  the  Digest  comes 
to  us  through  printers'  ink  of  some  kind.  We  have  no 
solicitors,  and  no  subscription  is  secured  because  of  friend- 
ship or  because  of  a  salesman's  strong  personality. 

One  more  example — this  one  from  a  comparatively  small 
national  advertiser — might  be  cited,  a  correspondence 
school,  appealing  only  to  a  limited  class.  The  school  has 
a  series  of  bulletins,  booklets,  and  letters,  which  are  pro- 
ducing approximately  600  ''sales"  per  month  from  the 
inquiries  resulting  entirely  from  publication  advertising. 
In  this  case  the  bulletins  are  four  pages  each  in  the  S^/o 
X  11  inch  size  and  6  x  11%  inches  for  those  of  six  pages. 
They  play  upon  the  prospect's  desire  for  wealth,  fame,  and 
the  pride  of  seeing  one's  name  in  public  prints.  One  bulle- 
tin is  entitled,  "The  Price  of  Success."  It  shows  as  the 
cover  design  a  student  burning  the  midnight  oil  and  look- 
ing at  a  framed  picture  of  Lincoln.  Inside,  the  prospect  is 
told  that  study,  as  it  was  with  Lincoln,  is  the  price  of 
success.  Another  is  entitled  **  Imagination,  the  Miracle 
Worker."  The  reference  is  to  Edison  and  his  accomplish- 
ments, pointing  out  that  we  must  not  merely  cultivate  but 
must  also  harness  our  imaginations  to  reach  high  goals. 
Each  bulletin  closes  with  an  appeal  for  their  course.  In 
the  series  is  a  testimonial  booklet  5i/2  x  8%  inches  in  size, 
entitled  "Proof  Positive." 

408.  Selling  Dogs  by  Mail. — Precedent  indicated  that 
dogs  must  be  put  on  exhibition  to  be  sold — that  they  could 


482         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

not  be  sold  by  mail.  Advertising  <&  Selling,  January  3, 
1920,  carries  an  extremely  interesting  story  of  how  Henri 
I.  Baer,  an  Alsatian  by  birth,  disregarded  this  precedent. 
He  began  business  with  practically  nothing  and  now  does 
more  than  $75*000  a  year.  "On  an  appropriation  of  $500 
a  month,  600  inquiries  and  $5000  worth  of  business  (aver- 
age) is  secured,"  said  Mr,  Baer.  Ninety-nine  per  cent  of 
his  business  comes  from  following  up  inquiries  produced  by 
various  forms  of  advertising.  He  has  about  12,000  names 
on  file  now  and  has  followed  up  some  of  them  as  many  as 
twenty  times.  Different  styles  of  appeal  are  used,  some 
personal  letters,  some  process,  even  a  number  in  printed 
form. 

Here  is  one  typical  letter,  sent  to  6000  names,  at  a  total 
cost  of  $484.50.  It  produced  3000  answers  and  $10,000 
worth  of  traceable  business : 

If  you  could  do  "the  other  fellow"  a  good  turn  without 
any  inconvenience  or  cost  to  yourself,  would  you  do  it? 

I  believe  you  would,  and  therefore  would  ask  of  you  a 
favor.  If  granted,  this  will  bring  you  information  on  a 
subject  you  want  to  know  more  about  or  it  will  save  us  post- 
age, literature,  and  time,  and  you  will  not  continue  to  receive 
literature  on  a  subject  that  no  longer  interests  you. 

Some  time  ago,  in  answer  to  an  inquiry  I  sent  you  one  of 
our  booklets,  which  has  resulted  in  correspondence  between  us 
regarding  a  dog  for  you.  Since  you  have  not  bought  a 
Palisade  Police  dog,  it  may  be  you  want  to  know  more  about 
this  particular  dog,  or  have  you  bought  some  other  kind  of 
dog? 

It  is  our  aim  to  establish  a  clearing  house  for  dogs,  and 
we  would  like  to  get  an  idea  of  just  what  kind  of  dogs  our 
inquirers  want.  We  would  therefore  appreciate  it  very  much 
if  you  would  please  check  the  inclosed  card  and  mail  it. 

If  you  already  have  a  dog  and  he  is  perfectly  satisfactory, 
you  may  not  be  interested  in  further  literature  about  the  Pali- 
sade Police  dog,  and  by  checking  the  card  "not  interested''  we 
will  remove  your  name  from  our  files. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  anything  you  want  to  know 
about  the  proper  feeding  and  care  of  your  dog,  or  his  train- 
ing, we  place  at  your  disposal  the  Palisade  Service,  to  help 


IN  CONJUNCTION  WITH  OTHER  FORMS      483 

you  care  for  and  handle  him,  so  as  to  get  the  most  out  of  his 
companionship. 

Please  check,  sig^,  and  mail  card  now.    It  will  help  us  both. 

This  letter  has  been  criticized  by  several — but  look 
at  the  results! 

409.  Direct  Advertising  and  Trade  Papers. — R.  Bigelow 
Lockwood,  in  Printers'  Ink  for  November  13,  1919,  tells 
how  one  shrewd  salesman  synchronizes  his  efforts  with  the 
trade-paper  advertising  offering  a  catalogue.  The  concern 
is  a  large  machine-tool  manufacturer.  A  few  days  after 
the  salesman  gets  the  inquiry  referred  to  he  writes  the  pros- 
pect a  letter  which  opens  in  this  manner : 

My  home  oflBee  has  advised  me  that  it  has  sent  you  a 
catalogue  in  response  to  your  request. 

I  have  purposely  waited  for  a  few  days  to  give  you  the 
opportunity  of  looking  over  this  catalogue  and  studying 
our  machine. 

Now  that  you  have  had  time  to  do  this,  however,  I  want 
to  call  on  you  and  discuss  your  manufacturing  problems  with 
the  view  of  applying  the  production  possibilities  of  our  lathe 
specifically  to  your  work — which  is  something  no  catalogue 
can  do.  I  am  therefore  planning  to  call  on  you  Wednes- 
day ..  . 

(a)  Using  the  humorous  appeal  in  connection  with  trade- 
paper  advertising :  Trade-paper  advertising  is  usually  in- 
tensely uninteresting.  For  this  reason,  probably,  more  than 
any  other,  two  or  three  users  of  this  form  have  broken  the 
ice  with  highly  humorous  campaigns.  One  concern,  the 
Patterson-Kelley  Company,  water-heating  engineers  and 
manufacturers  of  heaters,  has  coupled  up  with  its  trade- 
paper  advertising  what  John  C.  Whiteside,  its  advertising 
manager,  terms  a  series  of  "jazz"  letters. 

The  mechanical  make-up  of  these  letters  was  as  peculiar 
as  their  copy ;  occasionally  only  a  few  words  appeared  on  a 
line;  the  lines  were  very  short  and  irregular — after  the 
K.  C.  B.  style. 

There  were  four  letters  in  the  series.     The  first  one  read : 


484         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Over  in  Egypt  the  only  laundry  is  the  River  Nile — of 
crocodile  fame.  They  just  souse  the  clothes  in  the  cold, 
muddy  water  and — Old  Sol  does  the  drying  act. 

Over  here.  Well,  you  know,  and  we  know,  it's  different. 
Bang-up  laundries — those  getting  the  results  and  prospering 
— all  use  hot  water.     They  must. 

And  the  Kelley  system  supplies  it.  Lots  of  it — any- 
where, anytime.    Instantly. 

Take  us  at  our  word.  Fill  in  and  mail  the  inclosure  and 
we'll  leave  it  to  you  if  the  2  cents  isn't  the  very  best  invest- 
ment you've  made  in  a  coon's  age. 

Now  what  do  you  say? 

The  next  one  read: 

When  great  grandmother  wanted  to  wash,  Leander 
lugged  water  forty  furlongs  from  the  Old  South  Spring. 
With  the  ox  team — and  the  ice  boat — he  filled  the  big  copper 
kettle — brought  over  from  Brittany. 

It's  DOLLARS  TO  DOUGHNUTS  Leander  had  a  goodly  grouch. 
But  Water  Carriers'  Unions  were  of  the  future. 

Hot  v^ater  was  a  strenuous  stunt.  Cutting  fagots  and 
sparking  flints  was  far  from  fun.  However,  those  primitive 
pioneers  were  of  a  sterling,  sturdy  stock. 

To-DAY.  Things  have  changed.  You  don't  have  to  labor 
like  Leander  to  have  hot  water  because — 

The  Kelley  system  gives  it  to  you.  Gallons  and  gallons 
of  steaming,  scalding  hot  water.  Anywhere,  anytime.  Guar- 
anteed. 

Are  you  interested? 

If  so — 2  cents. 

Letter  No.  3,  which  follows,  was  sent  out  10  days  after 
No.  2  and  brought  over  153  replies  from  the  shrinking  list 
of  1920  names — those  answering  the  first  two  having  been 
removed : 

Back  in  barefoot  days  when  we  kids  "missed"  a  couple 
of  times,  mother  would  say,  "Sonny,  the  third  time's  the 
charm." 

This  is  the  third  time — about  the  Kelley  system  op 
water  heating  for  power  laundries. 

Persistent?    Sure.    We  know  exactly  what  it'll  do  for 


IN  CONJUNCTION  WITH  OTHER  FORMS      485 

YOU.  Exactly  how  it  will  increase  output  and  profits — 
same  as  it  does  for  over  2000  of  your  brother  operators. 

It's  no  guesswork,  but  facts — knockdown,  dragout,  con- 
vincing facts.  Why !  If  you  had  the  Kelley  you'd  wonder 
how  in  Sara  Hill  you  ever  did  without  it. 

Don't  spoil  the  charm — the  third  time. 

Invest  2  cents — now. 

The  fourth  and  final  shot  in  the  campaign  was :  <, 

No.  We  won't  quit  yet  even  if  the  third  time  wasn't  the 
charm  with  you. 

And  again  ask — do  you  want  to  know  just  what  the 
Kelley  system  op  water  heating  will  do  for  you? 

Some  six  hundred  others  invested  2  cents — but  we  cannot 
tell  you  unless  you  send  in  your  working  conditions. 

Once  more  do  you  want  to  know? 

' '  In  all  6620  letters  were  sent  to  the  list  of  2540  names ; 
results,  628  replies,  good  ones,"  comments  Printers'  Ink. 

410.  Direct  Advertising  to  Stockholders. — Many  con- 
cerns send  their  directors  their  advertising;  a  few  send 
their  stockholders  advertising  matter.  W.  H.  Dawson,  ad- 
vertising manager  of  the  Atlas  Powder  Company,  Philadel- 
phia, in  Printers'  Ink  for  February  26,  1920,  tells  how  his 
company  sends  direct  advertising  along  with  dividend 
checks  to  all  its  stockholders.  It  also  sends  miniature  re- 
productions of  other  forms  of  advertising. 

411.  Additional  References  on  Use  of  Direct  Adver- 
tising with  Other  Forms. — Answering  inquiries  must  vary 
with  different  companies,  but  the  issue  of  Printers'  Ink 
Monthly  for  June,  1920,  describes  one  of  the  simplest  and 
most  economical  methods  we  know  of.  It  is  used  by  Davis 
Sewing  Machine  Company  of  Dayton,  Ohio.  With  a  book- 
let sent  out  in  response  to  an  inquiry,  the  Davis  company 
mails  a  printed  card : 

We  would  really  like  to  write  you  personally,  but  in  the 
interests  of  service  and  to  be  sure  a  reply  reaches  you 
promptly,  we  are  sending  you  this  printed  response.  The 
inclosed  catalogue  explains  some  of  the  reasons  why  Davis 
Portable  Electric  Sewing  Machines  are  a  modern  necessity, 
and  gives  full  specifications  of  each  model.    But  a  demon- 


486         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

stration  would  no  doubt  be  more  satisfactory,  so  please  take 
the  letter  of  introduction  also  inclosed  to  our  representative, 
who  will  be  glad  to  give  you  further  information. 

The  accompanying  letter  of  introduction  is  like  the  one 
quoted  in  Section  210. 

Printers'  Ink,  August  31,  1916,  page  36,  tells  how  the  Trenton 
Potteries  Company  handles  its  consumer  inquiries  so  as  to  dodge 
the  "catalogue  collectors." 

Printers'  Ink,  February  15,  1917,  page  3,  gives  the  complete 
history  of  the  Williamson  Heater  Company  and  tells  how  it  so 
handles  its  inquiries  as  to  sell  furnaces  in  a  way  advertising  men 
had  heretofore  said  it  could  not  be  done. 

Additional  references  on  other  points  covered  in  this 
chapter  vs^ill  be  found  in  the  following: 

Mailbag,  April,  1917,  page  14.  How  the  Beaver  Board  Com- 
pany successfully  uses  direct  advertising  to  feature  to  the  trade  its 
national  advertising. 

Mailbag,  May,  1918,  page  30.  How  the  Fruit  Markets  Com- 
missioner of  Canada  used  direct  advertising  to  supplement  display 
advertising. 

Advertising  d;  Selling,  August  9,  1919.  The  part  direct 
advertising  played  in  campaign  of  display  and  other  forms  to 
sell  "Ditto"  machines. 

Advertising  &  Selling,  August  21,  1920.  Interlocking  direct 
advertising  of  Pittsburgh  Water  Heater  Supply  Company  with 
national  advertising. 

Postage,  November,  1919,  page  315.  Details  of  how  a  business 
was  built  entirely  by  direct  advertising  coupled  with  56-line  ad- 
vertisements in  the  six  leading  women's  magazines.  Total  volume 
now  in  excess  of  $100,000  a  year. 

Printers'  Ink,  February  25,  1915.  How  sixteen  thousand  fold- 
ers of  the  Sterling  Engine  Company,  Buffalo,  backed  by  display 
advertising,  produced  sales  of  $16,436. 

Printers'  Ink,  November  23,  1916.  Selling  coal  by  mail  fol- 
lowing receipt  of  inquiries  by  advertisements  in  small-town  news- 
papers. 

Printers'  Ink,  December  28,  1916.  Details  of  the  Frank  E. 
Davis  Company  method  of  selling  fish  direct  to  users  by  mail. 


IN  CONJUNCTION  WITH  OTHER  FORMS      487 

Inquiries  produced  by  magazine  advertising.     See  also  Printers' 
Ink,  March  4,  1920,  telling  of  use  of  newspapers. 

Printers'  Ink,  July  29,  1920.  Use  of  direct  advertising  in 
conjunction  with  national  advertising,  by  Hartford  Fire  Insurance 
Company. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

HOW  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  HAS  BEEN  USED  EFFECTIVELY 

IN  SELLING  TO  WHOLESALERS  AND  RETAILERS 

AND  THEIR  SALESMEN 

412.  Two  Different  Phases  of  the  Problem  of  Selling 
to  the  Wholesaler  and  Retailer. — In  this  chapter  we  take 
up  only  the  problem  of  the  manufacturer,  or  other  pro- 
ducer, effectively  using  direct  advertising  selling  to  whole- 
salers (jobbers)  and  retailers  and  their  salesmen.  The 
angle  of  selling  for  them  will  be  taken  up  in  the  succeeding 
chapter,  and  the  matter  of  their  own  advertising  will  be 
treated  in  Chapter  XXVII. 

There  are  two  main  phases  of  the  present  chapter: 
Selling  to  the  wholesaler,  retailer,  and  their  salesmen,  and 
serving  them.  In  the  former  phase  the  dominant  thought 
is  to  get  an  order  for  your  product  from  the  distributor. 
See  the  letter  quoted  in  Section  392  for  a  case  in  point. 
In  the  second  phase  the  manufacturer  endeavors  first  to 
SERVE  the  distributor,  and  secondly  to  sell  him.  In  this 
latter  phase  the  principal  means  of  serving  is  either  to  sell 
the  distributor  himself  on  a  record-keeping  system  or  proper 
display  cases  (the  method  of  such  firms  as  Robert  H.  Inger- 
soll  &  Brother),  or  to  help  the  distributor  by  showing  and 
helping  his  salesmen  to  become  better  salesmen  in  general, 
or  better  salesmen  for  the  manufacturers'  product  in  par- 
ticular. 

413.  A  Campaign  that  Secured  6815  New  Dealers  in 
Ninety  Days. — When  Charles  A.  Bonniwell  was  director 
of  advertising  for  Wm.  J.  Moxley,  Incorporated,  Chicago, 
he  put  on  a  campaign  of  direct  advertising  which  se- 
cured 6815  new  dealers  in  ninety  days.  The  complete  plan, 
fully  illustrated,  will  be  found  in  Mailhag  for  June,  1918, 

488 


IN  SELLING  TO  WHOLESALERS  489 

pages  49  to  62,  inclusive.     For  our  purposes  it  may  be  sum- 
marized as  follows : 

THREE  DEALER  BROADSIDES 

These  were  14  x  21  inches  in  size,  printed  in  two  colors, 
from  illustrations  made  from  photographs  posed  by  live 
models.  The  broadsides  were  folded  to  10  V2  x  4%  before 
mailing. 

Number  one  approached  the  dealer  from  a  basis  of  asking 
his  advice,  the  headline  being.  "Will  you  Help  us  Answer 
This  Important  Question?"  The  question  being,  "Shall  we 
advertise  in  the  big  magazines  or  spend  the  money  with  you  f 
The  latter  referred  to  a  series  of  three  illustrated  letters  which 
would  be  sent  direct  to  the  dealer's  prospects  at  the  manufac- 
turer's expense. 

Number  two.  "A  Profitable  Partnership."  This  broadside 
approached  the  very  important  subject  that  no  dealer  was 
interested  merely  in  the  amount  of  business  but  also  in  the 
PROFITS  he  could  make. 

Number  three.  ".  .  .  and  then  he  dictated  this  letter." 
This  piece  brought  in  the  outside  viewpoint,  showing  a  letter 
from  a  dealer's  customer  to  the  manufacturer,  taking  up  the 
advantages  of  the  average  dealer  handling  the  product. 

POUR  "new  account"  LETTERS 

The  purpose  of  these  was  to  keep  continually  sold  the 
dealer  who  had  already  been  sold  on  the  product. 

Number  one  was  written  on  the  regular  stationery  of  the 
company  signed  by  "Director  of  Sales,"  and  with  imprinted 
department  heading:  "Office  of  Director  of  Sales."  The 
letter  was  to  secure  the  cooperation  of  the  dealer  until  actual 
buying  demand  would  keep  the  cooperation  alive. 

Number  two,  mailed  two  days  after,  was  on  the  personal 
(baronial  style)  stationery  of  the  President.  The  President 
congratulated  the  dealer,  having  just  heard  the  news  from 
the  director  of  sales. 

Number  three  was  a  four-page  letterhead  printed  in  two 
colors  from  "Director  of  Advertising."  This  played  up  the 
advertising  cooperation. 

Number  four,  another  four-page  letterhead  from  the  "Man- 
ager of  Production,"  sold  the  dealer  on  the  quality  and  uni- 
formity of  product. 


490         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

All  these  letters  were  carefully  processed  and  fiUed-in  to 
match  with  dealers'  names,  and  each  was  signed  with  a  pen- 
and-ink  signature. 

THREE    DEALER   TO    CONSUMER   LETTERS 

The  preceding  were  selling  the  dealer.  The  following  were 
serving  him  by  selling  the  consumer. 

Number  one,  featuring  food  value  and  recipes,  was  mailed 
in  a  No.  9  envelope  (penny-saver).  It  was  four-page  in 
style,  and  was  printed  in  colors  on  a  heavy  folding  enamel 
stock.  The  object  was  to  get  the.housewife  addressed  to  try 
one  pound  of  the  oleomargarine. 

Number  two,  likewise  a  four-page  letter,  was  the  dealer's 
recommendation,  and  laid  especial  stress  on  the  wholesome- 
ness  of  the  product. 

Number  three  was  a  one-page  letter  giving  the  dealer's 
argument  for  customers  and  his  guarantee. 

A  booklet  entitled  "Betty's  Honeymoon  Diary"  was 
featured  in  many  of  the  pieces.  Newspaper  electros  were 
likewise  offered  to  dealers. 

414.  Additional  References  on  Selling  the  Dealer  (Re- 
tailer).— Lack  of  space  makes  it  impossible  to  quote  addi- 
tional campaigns  in  detail,  but  the  following  references  will 
help  those  interested  beyond  the  Moxley  campaign  men- 
tioned in  Section  413 : 

Printers'  Ink,  July  3,  1913.  How  the  Favorite  Stove  and 
Range  Company,  Piqua,  Ohio,  by  a  folder  campaign  of  six 
pieces  in  six  weeks,  secured  454  inquiries,  of  wiiich  it  sold 
209.     Five  of  those  inquiring  bought  in  carload  lots. 

Printers'  Ink,  December  31,  1914,  page  3.  Getting  men's  pipes 
oil  the  novelty  basis. 

Printers'  Ink,  July  22,  1915,  page  8.  H.  J.  Winsten  on  how 
the  Chicago-Kenosha  Hosieiy  Company  "chalked  up  a  40  per 
cent  sales  gain,"  backed  up  by  a  direct-advertising  campaign.  In 
this  campaign  the  dealer  was  served  as  well  as  sold. 

Printers'  Ink,  September  7,  1916,  page  17.  How  one  firm  used 
33  form  letters  in  writing  retailers  about  its  advertising  campaign. 

Printers'  Ink,  October  11,  1917,  page  51.  How  the  General 
Electric  Company  sells  its  dealers  on  advertising. 

Postage,  January,  1917,  page  8.  S.  Roland  Hall  tells  of  the 
Alpha  Portland  Cement  Company's  letter  "calls"  on  dealers. 


IN  SELLING  TO  WHOLESALERS  491 

Postage,  September,  1918,  page  17.  A  single  piece  which,  at 
a  cost.of  less  than  $500,  produced  $27,000  orders  in  two  months. 

Printers'  Ink  Monthly,  June,  1920.  Roy  Dickinson's  able  arti- 
cle, "Three  Books  Push  Chevrolet  Sales  Close  to  Top." 

Marketing,  January,  1920,  page  12,  and  Marketing,  February, 
page  62.  William  A.  Hersey's  analysis  of  selling  small-town 
dealers.     In  this  connection  see  also  Section  174  A, 

415.  Securing    Jobber's     (Wholesaler's)     Cooperation. 

— In  the  main  the  same  appeals  are  made  to  secure  the  co- 
operation of  wholesalers  (jobbers)  as  to  secure  the  cooper- 
ation of  the  retailers  (dealers). 

Norman  Lewis,  in  Mailbag  for  March,  1920,  describes  a 
series  of  broadsides  and  mailing  cards  used  by  Scientific 
Products  Company,  Steubenville,  Ohio,  to  secure  the  coop- 
eration of  jobbers.  A  portfolio  of  the  dealer's  Jielps 
(in  general,  like  those  referred  to  in  Section  50)  was  fur- 
nished jobbers  for  use  by  their  salesmen  in  calling  on 
retailers. 

Lewis  E.  Kingman,  when  advertising  manager  of  the 
Florence  Manufacturing  Company,  Florence,.  Mass.,  de- 
scribed in  Printers'  Ink  for  March  2,  1916,  how  that  com- 
pany secured  cooperation  by  inclosing  return  postal  cards 
in  each  packing  unit — half  dozen,  dozen,  or  gross  packages. 
The  purpose  of  the  cards  was  to  obtain  the  name  of  the  job- 
ber from  whom  the  retailer  bought  these  goods.  The  re- 
turns were  in  due  course  referred  to  the  jobber. 

The  following  letter,  according  to  George  J.  Kirkgasser, 
advertising  manager  Cutler-Hammer  Manufacturing 
Company,  Milwaukee  (see  Mailbag  for  August,  1920, 
page  161),  was  sent  to  360  electrical  jobbers  with  effective 
results : 

Gentlemen  : 

Do  you  Average  Down  the  High  Cost  of  Salesmen's  Trav- 
eling Expenses  by  Mail  Efforts'? 

Periodical  mail  advertising  dovetails  in  with  the  work  of 
the  salesmen;  it  gets  quick  action  where  such  is  necessary; 
gets  to  people  hard  to  call  on;  brings  in  orders  by  mail;  and 
gets  orders  ready  for  handing  to  the  salesmen  when  he  calls, 
thus  giving  him  more  time  for  other  calls. 


492         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

The  present  excessive  traveling  expenses  are  also  averaged 
down. 

Here's  something  you  can  do  right  now. 

Mail  a  letter  and  circular  to  all  electrical  dealers  in  your 

territory,     A  suggestion  for  such  a  letter  is  attached — the 

printed  matter  for  the  C-H  70-50  Switch  we  will  furnish 

with  your  imprint  when  you  tell  us  the  quantity  required. 

The  next  full  page  Saturday  Evening  Post  ad  will  appear 
in  the  February  14  issue  and  all  dealers  will  be  circularized 
by  us  between  February  7  and  14.  If  your  circularization 
is  made  at  that  time,  you'll  pick  off  the  orders  created. 

Let  us  know  the  number  of  folders  required  at  once  and 
iu  the  meantime  prepare  your  letters  and  address  your  en- 
velopes in  readiness  for  mailing  when  the  folders  reach  you. 

416.  Serving  the  Distributor  Through  Direct  Adver- 
tising to  Salesmen. — To  create  the  interest  of  jobbers'  sales- 
men, the  Federal  Miniature  Division  of  the  General  Elec- 
tric Company,  according  to  an  article  in  Sales  Management , 
August,  1920,  page  481,  prepared  a  series  of  special  sales 
letterheads  and  wrote  a  series  of  homely,  interesting  mes- 
sages to  the  wholesalers'  salesmen. 

In  the  same  field,  the  electrical  industry,  W.  N.  Matthews 
&  Brother  of  St.  Louis,  as  described  in  Printers'  Ink, 
August  5,  1915,  secured  the  active  cooperation  of  2300  job- 
bers' salesmen  through  a  series  of  letters  and  booklets. 
The  first  letter  read : 

Your  competitor — if  you  haven't  met  him  you  may  to- 
morrow— may  be  a  bigger  man  than  you  are.  He  is  out  after 
just  what  you  want  and  you  can't  blame  him.  He  has  the 
same  success  problem' — the  same  "bread-and-butter"  problem 
that  you  have. 

If  you  have  plenty  of  "Cake"  you  won't  have  to  worry  so 
much    about    the    "bread-and-butter"    question. 

By  reading  and  practicing  what  Matthews'  Cake  Cam- 
paign Booklets  teach  you,  you  will  get  the  answer  to  most  of 
your  sales  worries. 

You  won't  be  an  "almost  success" — you  will  be  a  success. 

This  was  accompanied  by  a  postal  card  upon  which 
the  salesman  could  ask  for  the  "Cake  Campaign"  booklets. 


IN  SELLING  TO  WHOLESALERS  493 


The  reference  to  ' '  Cake ' '  was  explained  in  the  second  letter 
which  read: 

Specialties  are  always  priced  higher  than  so-called  "staple" 
goods.  They  should  be.  Specialties  of  merit,  when  rightly 
priced,  show  ultimate  savings  that  make  their  use  a  real  ne- 
cessity. You  can't  make  real  money  by  pushing  the  "staple" 
goods.  Your  profits — the  profits  of  your  house — are  not 
made  on  "staple"  goods,  the  gross  profit  of  which  is  low. 
They  do  make  money  on  wide  margin  material,  and  good  mar- 
gins are  not  possible  unless  you  sell  material  at  a  good  price. 

Let  us  look  this  question  squarely  in  the  face.  If  you  go 
along  selling  the  regular  "old  line"  goods,  you  can  perhaps 
hold  your  position  and  "get  by,"  but  you  will  be  eating  bread 
and  butter  sometimes.  If  you  take  a  real  interest  in  spe- 
cialties carrying  a  good,  wide  margin  of  profit,  you  have 
bread,  butter,  and  cake. 

The  first  booklet  went  out  with  the  third  letter  and  was 
called,  "A  Friendly  Letter  to  the  Electrical-supply  Jobber 
and  an  Expression  of  Faith  in  Him."  Other  booklets  told 
of  the  "Cake  Campaio:n,"  "Electrical-supply  Salesman- 
ship," "Efficient  Cooperation,"  "Advertising,"  and 
"Quality  vs.  Price." 

H.  G.  Garrott,  a  St.  Paul  (Minnesota)  candy  manufac- 
turer, has  been  extremely  successful  in  getting  the  coopera- 
tion of  jobbers'  salesmen  by  a  series  of  human,  homely, 
semi-humorous  letters  that  never  mentioned  candy  at  all 
except  as  incidental  to  a  timely  greeting  or  a  good  story. 
We  have  space  for  only  one,  and  choose  a  specimen  coming 
nearest  to  "talking  business."  A  number  of  them  will  be 
found  in  Printers'  Ink,  December  11,  1919,  page  37,  et  seq.: 

Dear  Sir: 

"It  will  have  to  be  over  my  dead  body" —  that's  what  I 
tell  retailers  in  the  East  who  keep  hounding  me  for  choco- 
lates. 

They  seem  to  be  famished  for  candy.  If  I  were  to 
weaken,  New  York  City  alone  would  swallow  my  output  like 
a  sugar-coated  pill. 

I  tell  them  "No"  and  put  in  that  "dead  body"  stuff — it 
sounds  heroic  and  makes  an  impression. 


494         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Why  do  I  say  "NO"?  Ah,  there  you  have  it!  I  am 
saving  my  output  for  you — and  the  Northwest. 

Yes,  I  expect  to  take  care  of  you — but  hurry  up  and  send 
that  order  I  am  trying  to  save  for  you — before  somebody 
accuses  me  of  hoarding. 

417.  Educational  Work  on  Distributors  and  Salesmen. 
— There  remains  for  discussion  only  the  educational  work 
with  distributors  and  their  clerks.  Most  of  this  is  accom- 
plished by  direct  advertising.  Yawman  &  Erbe  Manufac- 
turing Company,  for  example,  conducts  a  correspondence 
course  in  selling  office  equipment  and  files  by  direct  adver- 
tising. 

Robert  H,  Ingersoll  &  Brother  aim  to  make  better  jewel- 
ers of  their  retail  outlets. 

Armour  &  Company  (see  Printers'  Ink  Monthly,  October, 
1920,  page  45)  have  a  series  of  business  bulletins  which 
pave  the  way  for  traveling  service  men.  These  bulletins 
cover  such  subjects  as  store  lighting,  various  principles 
of  salesmanship,  good  housekeeping,  coordination  of  sell- 
ing effort,  building  up  a  mailing  list,  how  to  get  out 
effective  advertising  matter,  and  similar  phases  of  merchan- 
dising. 

This  subject  of  educating  the  retailers,  wholesalers,  and 
their  salesmen,  is  worthy  of  a  volume  in  itself.  We  can 
mention  only  references  to  a  few  of  the  outstanding  suc- 
cesses in  this  field  of  operation : 

Mailbag,  October,  1918.  H.  McJohnston  gives  the  reader  de- 
tails of  the  Scholl  Foot-Comfort  campaign  and  quotes  specimens 
of  material  used  in  educating  the  retail  shoe  salesmen. 

Printers'  Ink,  October  14,  1915,  page  54.  How  the  Garland 
Stove  Company  by  its  famous  book,  "Team-Work,"  made  salesmen 
out  of  clerks. 

Printers'  Ink,  May  31,  1917,  page  25.  John  Allen  Murphy, 
formerly  a  retailer,  tells  how  the  Beechnut  Packing  Company 
keeps    in    friendly   touch   with   thousands    of  retailers. 

Printers'  Ink,  March  21,  1918,  page  78.  An  interesting  and 
suggestive  article  on  training  the  clerk  as  a  means  of  developing 
sales. 


IN  SELLING  TO  WHOLESALERS  495 

Printers'  Ink,  October  23,  1919,  page  62.  The  complete  details 
of  the  methods  of  the  Joseph  &  Feiss  Company  in  teaching  dealers 
how  to  bring  customers  to  the  store. 

Printers'  Ink,  September  3,  1914.  An  extremely  helpful  article 
by  a  staff  writer  on  ways  of  educating  clerks.  It  drives  home 
this  point:  dealer's  salespeople  resent  being  regarded  as  ignoram- 
uses. 

Printers'  Ink,  November  2,  1916,  page  95.  Article  on  the  de- 
tails of  how  several  concerns  attack  this  problem. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

HOW  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  HAS  BEEN  USED  EFFECTIVELY 

IN  SELLING  GOODS  FOR  WHOLESALERS  AND 

RETAILERS 

418.  The  Value  of  the  Manufacturers'  Advertising  to 
the  Distributor. — Lewis  H.  Clement,  when  president  of 
the  National  Association  of  Piano  Dealers,  in  1911,  made 
an  address  before  the  Grand  Rapids  meeting  of  the  Associ- 
ated Advertising  Clubs  on  the  value  of  the  manufacturers' 
advertising  to  the  distributor,  which  he  summarized  under 
these  five  heads: 

First:     The  utility  of  the  thing  advertised. 

Second:     Its  permanent  value. 

Third:     The  believableness  of  the  copy. 

Fourth :     The  mediums  used. 

Fifth:     The  cooperation  of  the  dealer  (distributor). 

In  this  talk,  he  made  two  statements  particularly  perti- 
nent to  the  subject-matter  of  this  chapter  as  well  as  to  all 
advertising.  First,  he  said,  ''And  right  here  I  desire  to 
controvert  the  statement  that  advertising  adds  to  the  cost 
of  things.  So  long  as  value  depends  not  alone  on  utility, 
but  also  on  the  satisfaction  derived  through  ownership  and 
use,  if  advertising  adds  to  the  buyer's  satisfaction  in  the 
use  of  an  advertised  article,  it  adds  not  so  much  to  its  cost 
as  to  its  value,  because  such  value  is  the  estimate  placed  on 
a  thing  by  its  owner." 

This  statement  is  especially  apropos  to  the  selling  of 
goods  to  distributors  for  resale,  for  even  at  this  date  (1921), 
ten  years  after  the  delivery  of  the  address  referred  to,  all 
too  many  distributors  are  prone  to  claim  that  advertising 
adds  to  the  cost  of  merchandise. 

The  other  statement  is  directly  tied  up  to  the  distributor 

496 


THROUGH  WHOLESALERS  AND  RETAILERS     497 

himself  and  the  subject  of  this  chapter.  Mr.  Clement  clev- 
erly epitomized  the  entire  problem  of  the  manufacturer 
doing  advertising  for  the  dealer  and  wholesaler  in  these 
words:  ''But  no  amount  of  advertising  can  help  that 
dealer  (distributor)  who  refuses  to  cooperate  with  the  man- 
ufacturer, and  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  dealer  (distribu- 
tor) is  under  a  certain  moral  obligation  to  cooperate  with 
the  manufacturer  who  makes  reliable  goods  and  who  also 
creates  a  demand  for  his  product  by  his  advertising." 

419.  Imprinting  the  Simplest  Form  of  Tying  Up  the 
Manufacturer's  Advertising  with  Distributor's  Business. 
— Imprinting,  whether  it  be  envelope  inclosures  for  insert- 
ing in  mails,  or  mailing  pieces,  house  organs,  or  the  like,  is 
the  simplest  form  of  tying  up  the  manufacturer's  advertis- 
ing with  that  of  the  distributor,  wholesaler  or  retailer. 
Note  the  reference  to  ''imprinting"  in  the  letter  to  jobbers 
mentioned  in  Section  415.  Fig.  74  depicts  several  forms 
of  "imprints."  In  this  chapter  we  are  not,  however,  di- 
rectly interested  in  the  "how"  but  more  in  the  "results," 
or  what  has  been  accomplished.  Fig.  4  A  shows  the  di- 
vision of  a  manufacturer's  advertising  appropriation  and 
indicates  the  importance  of  the  direct  form  in  doing  adver- 
tising for  wholesalers  and  retailers.     See  also  Section  268. 

420.  An  Effective  Six-Unit  Campaign. — Through  the 
cooperation  of  A.  G.  Ilahn,  secretary  of  the  Akin-Erskine 
Milling  Company  of  Evansville,  Indiana,  we  show  a  graphic 
illustration  of  the  close  interlocking  of  all  forms  of  adver- 
tising in  selling  goods  through  wholesaler  (jobber),  retailer, 
and  selling  the  consumer.  Mr.  Hahn  calls  this  his  "Six- 
unit  plan."     The  six  units  are: 

First:  A  local  representative  (wholesaler)  is  secured  to 
handle  the  company's  line  of  flour. 

Second:  The  merchants  (retailers)  of  the  city  are  writ- 
ten to  and  are  informed  of  the  merits  of  the  flour  and  that  it 
can  be  purchased  through  the  representative  named. 

Third:  A  letter,  telling  of  the  merits  of  the  flour,  is  sent 
to  the  leading  housewives  of  the  city,  using  the  telephone 
directory  as  a  list. 


498         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Fourth :  This  is  followed  with  a  second  letter  to  the  grocer 
suggesting  that  he  purchase  a  supply  of  this  flour  and  send 
Akin-Erskine  Milling  Company  a  list  of  his  customers. 

Fifth:  A  letter  is  written  to  his  trade,  inclosing  a  recipe 
book,  telling  of  the  merits  of  the  flour  and  suggesting  the 
purchase  of  the  flour  through  the  grocer. 

Sixth:  In  addition  an  advertisement  is  run  in  the  local 
newspaper  during  the  month  of  the  campaign. 

Letter  to  housewife. — The  following  is  a  copy  of  the 
letter  sent  to  the  housewife : 

Dear  Madam: 

Your  grocer  has  suggested  that  we  write  you  telling  of  the 
merits  of  Beacon  Self-Rising  Flour. 

Good  results  will  be  obtained  when  you  use  Beacon  Self- 
Rising  Flour  for  your  baking. 

It  is  milled  of  the  finest  soft  winter  wheat  with  Self-Rising 
ingredients  added.  There  is  no  guess  work  about  Beacon 
Self-Rising  Flour.  It  will  make  the  finest  biscuits  you  have 
ever  eaten. 

How  TO  make  good  biscuits — 

Use  Beacon  Self-Rising  Flour.  Add  good  white 
shortening.  Make  a  soft  dough  with  sweet  milk  or  water 
and  bake  in  a  hot  oven.  It  is  not  necessary  to  use  salt, 
soda,  or  baking  powder. 

Beacon  Self-Rising  Flour  is  guaranteed  to  be  absolutely 
pure.  Our  flour  is  being  sold  by  your  grocer.  Insist  on 
Beacon  flour.  Do  not  accept  inferior  in  place  of  the  best. 
Order  a  sack  to-day  from  your  grocer.  Be  convinced  and 
use  the  best — Beacon  Self-Rising  Flour. 

Your  grocer  can  supply  you  with  Beacon  Self-Rising 
Flour.  Order  a  sack  to-day  for  your  next  baking  of  bis- 
cuits. 

Letter  to  grocers. — The  following  goes  to  grocers: 

SELL  YOUR  customers  A   SELF-RISING  FLOUR  THAT   IS 

guaranteed 

There  is  a  difference  in  flour.  The  quality  of  the  flour 
depends  upon  the  quality  of  wheat  used  and  the  milling 
process. 

We  have  an  up-to-date  mill  located  in  Southern  Indiana 


THROUGH  WHOLESALERS  AND  RETAILERS     499 

with  a  capacity  of  2500  barrels  daily.  Our  flour  is  milled 
of  the  finest  quality  of  soft  winter  wheat  and  our  milling 
process  is  modern. 

Our  Beacon  Self-Rising  Flour  is  guaranteed  to  give  satis- 
faction and  is  superior  to  most  Self -Rising  flours  on  the 
market. 

Our  RoxANE  high-grade  40  per  cent  patent  is  the  finest 
flour  for  bread  and  cakes. 

The  inclosed  receipt-book  contains  four  exeellant  cake  rec- 
ipes, a  bread  and  a  biscuit  recipe.  You  can  guarantee  our 
flour  to  your  trade  and  if  it  does  not  give  satisfaction  the 
mill  will  stand  behind  it. 

The Company are 

our  representatives  in  your  territory.  We  suggest  that  you 
give  their  salesman  a  trial  order  for  Beacon  Self- Rising 
Flour. 

Sell  your  trade  a  flour  that  is  guaranteed.  You  will  have 
no  trouble  with  Beacon  Self -Rising  Flour. 

This  short  letter  goes  to  the  jobber  (wholesaler)  : 

Inclosed  find  copy  of  a  letter  we  are  sending  to  the  grocer 
which  covers  a  list  of  about  500  names.  Suggest  that  you 
can  assist  them  in  pushing  the  sale.  It  will  be  beneficial  and 
secure  business  for  you.  We  will  cooperate  with  you  in 
every  way  in  helping  you  to  put  Beacon  Self-Rising  Flour 
on  the  market  and  appreciate  the  business  you  are  giving  us. 

We  are  booking  a  car  for  you  through  our  broker  and  will 
appreciate  instructions  and  specifications  as  soon  as  possible. 

"Experts"  M^ho  have  looked  over  these  letters  have  crit- 
icized them.  The  milling  company  has  been  in  business 
since  1897  and  Mr.  Hahn  says  of  this  plan:  "It  has  in- 
creased our  flour  business  from  four  cars  annually  to  four- 
teen at  every  place  the  campaign  has  been  conducted." 
This  is  evidence  of  how  comparatively  small  efforts  reap  big 
results  when  properly  planned.  See  Section  50  for  de- 
scription of  an  elaborate  plan  of  this  same  nature. 

421.  Typical  Campaigns  for  Benefit  of  Distributors. — 
Hart,  Schaffner  &  Marx,  Chicago,  stand  in  the  forefront  of 
conducting  campaigns  of  direct  advertising  for  distributors, 
who,  in  the  case  of  that  company,  are  retailers. 


500         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

E.  G.  Weir  of  the  Beckwith  Company,  Dowagiac,  Michi- 
gan, told  the  author  some  time  ago:  "A  particularly- 
profitable  field  for  direct  advertising  is  to  circularize  satis- 
fied users,  the  names  of  which  are  supplied  by  the  dealer, 
requesting  them  to  send  in  names  of  friends  or  others  who, 
they  believe,  would  be  in  the  market  for  a  high-grade  heat- 
ing system.  From  this  source  thousands  of  prospects  are 
secured  annually.  In  the  majority  of  cases  the  satisfied 
users  gladly  give  consent  to  the  use  of  their  names  in  recom- 
mending the  heating  system  to  the  list  they  supply,  all  of 
which  adds  to  the  value  of  the  follow-up." 

Not  long  ago  the  manager  of  the  advertising  division  of 
the  United  States  Cartridge  Company  went  on  record  as 
follows:  ''Nearly  all  of  the  25  per  cent  of  our  total  ap- 
propriation which  goes  into  direct  advertising  is  local  cir- 
cularizing sent  out  over  the  dealer's  signature." 

Direct  Advertising,  Vol.  IV,  No.  1,  tells  the  story  of  the 
Stetson  Shoe  Company's  campaign  to  between  250,000  and 
300,000  users  for  the  benefit  of  the  company's  dealers.  In 
speaking  of  results  the  official  quoted  gives  this  tj^pical  case  : 

"In  the  city  of  we  have  a  mailing  list  of 

2861  Active  names,  2735  Prospective,  and  553  Inactive. 
Our  record  for  the  past  season  stands : 

Transferred  from  Prospective  to  Active 412' 

Transferred  from  Inactive  to  Active 109 

New  Customers 225 

Fig.  132  illustrates  a  special  colored  letterhead  prepared 
by  the  O'Brien  Varnish  Company  for  use  by  its  dealers. 
That  company  takes  care  of  the  printing,  mailing,  etc., 
for  the  dealer,  a  plan  that  is  followed  by  many  other  manu- 
facturers. E.  S.  Dickens,  sales  and  advertising  manager, 
says :  "I  find  that  our  illustrated  letterheads  and  the  inclo- 
sures  which  go  with  them  have  produced  many  actual  or- 
ders for  dealers."  Fig.  127  represents  a  simpler  form  of 
letterhead,  note-head  size  in  this  case,  prepared  by  Carter 
Lead  for  its  dealers.  Note  how  very  inconspicuously  ap- 
pears the  name  of  Carter.     These  letterheads  are  imprinted 


THROUGH  WHOLESALERS  AND  RETAILERS       501 


(in  effect)  at  the  top;  *'J.  Harvey  Beckwith,  Painting, 
Decorating,  and  Paperhanging,  Washington,  D.  C,"  being 
imprinted  in  the  one  illustrated. 

The  trouble  with  the  wholesaler  and  retailer  using  the 
manufacturer's  advertising,  usually,  is  lack  of  continuity. 
To  overcome  this,  several  manufacturers,  notably  the  H. 
Black  Company,  Cleveland,  Art  Metal  Construction  Com- 
pany, Jamestown,  New  York,  and  others  publish  a  house 


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Fig.   127. — A  specimen  of  direct  advertising  planned  for  the  re- 
tailer.    See  text  for  details. 

organ,  or  house  magazine,  which  to  all  appearances  is  pub- 
lished by  the  retailer.  The  company  in  each  case  takes  care 
of  editing,  publishing,  and  mailing,  thus  assuring  contin- 
uity of  appeal. 

422a  Charging  the  Distributors  for  Part  of  the  Cost. — 
The  house  organs  referred  to  in  the  last  paragraph  of  Sec- 
tion 421  bring  up  the  subject  of  charging  the  dealer,  or 
other  distributor,  with  part  of  the  cost  of  the  campaign. 
In  both  instances  mentioned  the  dealer  paj^s  some  of  the 
cost  of  publishing  the  magazines  in  addition  to  paying  the 


502         Ef'FECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

total  expense  of  the  postage.  In  fact,  except  where  it  is 
hard  to  get  dealers,  the  practice,  as  a  rule,  is  to  charge  the 
dealer  with  the  cost  of  postage.  This  is  eminently  fair,  for 
the  dealer  frequently  has  a  much  larger  percentage  of 
profit  in  the  proposition  than  the  manufacturer.  More  than 
that,  his  paying  something  is  an  assurance  that  the  dealer 
is  furnishing  worth-while  mailing  lists. 

Printers'  Ink,  in  its  issue  of  January  3,  1918,  comment- 
ing upon  this  practice  and  describing  the  campaign  of  the 
Cadillac  Garment  Manufacturing  Company,  said:  "Re- 
tailers are  ready  and  willing  to  meet  the  manufacturer 
halfway  on  any  proposition  that  will  make  sales. ' ' 

In  order  to  do  this,  however,  the  following  principle 
must  be  adhered  to  at  all  times:  The  advertising  matter 
prepared  must  he  a  real  service  to  the  retailer;  it  must 
serve  his  interests  first  and  the  manufacturer's  secondly.  It 
must  also  appear  as  if  put  out  hy  the  retailer  (or  whole- 
saler) or  it  will  not  have  the  consumer-value  it  should  have. 

423.  Additional  References  on  Selling  Goods  for 
Wholesaler  and  Retailer. — Conditions  of  trade,  trade  cus- 
toms, methods  of  getting  lists,  and  innumerable  other  phases 
enter  into  the  problem  of  selling  goods  for  wholesalers  and 
retailers  and  we  have  had  to  lay  down  only  general  prin- 
ciples in  this  chapter.  Selling  $1000  worth  of  pens  for  a 
dealer  is  probably  a  much  more  effective  job  than  selling 
$10,000  worth  of  high-priced  motor  trucks,  for  example. 
Therefore  the  following  additional  references  are  only  a 
few  of  many,  as  the  selections  have  been  confined  to  those 
representing  principles : 

Printers'  Ink,  April  24,  1913.  Complete  details  of  "coopera- 
tive" advertising  with  dealers  of  the  Favorite  Stove  &  Range 
Company,  Piqua,  Ohio. 

Printers'  Ink,  October  9,  1919,  page  154.  How  the  Goodyear 
Tire  &  Rubber  Company  handles  a  consumer-letter  service  for 
dealers. 

Mailbag,  February,  1918,  page  273.  How,  at  a  cost  of  $341, 
a  small  manufacturer  got  $3700  worth  of  dealer  newspaper  ad- 
vertising, proving  the  efficacy  of  direct  advertising  in  reaching 
dealers. 


THROUGH  WHOLESALERS  AND  RETAILERS     503 

Postage,  June,  1917,  page  262.  An  address  of  R.  M.  Nicholson 
of  the  Berger  Manufacturing  Company,  before  the  St.  Louis 
Direct  Mail  Department.  How  advertising  of  the  manufacturer 
to  the  consumer  stimulated  the  sales  of  the  dealer. 

Printers'  Ink,  September  16,  1920.  Charles  M.  Lemperly,  ad- 
vertising manager  Sherwin-Williams  Company,  writes  with  ref- 
erence to  that  company's  tie-up  with  the  dealer. 

Sales  Manager  Monthly,  January,  1921,  page  215.  Complete 
details  describing  how  the  Sherwin-Williams  Company  build  up 
dealers'  sales  by  cultivating  the  dealers'  prospects. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

HOW  WHOLESALERS  AND  RETAILERS  HAVE  USED  DIRECT 
ADVERTISING  EFFECTIVELY 

424.  The  Function  of  the  Wholesaler  Largely  One  of 
Distribution. — The  function  of  the  wholesaler,  as  a  rule, 
is  that  of  distributing  the  products  of  manufacturers. 
Many  of  them  do  little  or  no  advertising  themselves.  Now 
and  then  they  distribute  the  advertising  matter  of  the  man- 
ufacturer, but  it  is  only  occasionally  that  they  rise  and 
advertise  on  their  own  account. 

There  are  exceptions,  of  course,  outstanding  exceptions. 
Butler  Brothers  do  their  national  business  entirely  by  mail. 
Forty  years  ago  this  firm  started  in  one  of  Boston's  back 
streets  as  a  dealer  in  small  specialties.  Some  one  in  the 
firm  conceived  the  idea  of  wholesaling  by  mail — one  of  the 
biggest  achievements  ever  accomplished  by  direct  advertis- 
ing— and  to-day,  with  a  catalogue  called  "Our  Drummer," 
Butler  Brothers  have  over  200,000  retailers  as  their  cus- 
tomers and  carry  on  one  of  the  largest  wholesale  businesses 
in  the  world.  Butler  Brothers  have  always  served  their 
retailers  and  have  done  everything  that  direct  advertising 
could  do  to  make  their  retailers  better  merchandisers  of 
goods  at  retail.  Stone-Ordean-Wells  Company,  Duluth, 
Minnesota,  for  years  published  Ginger,  a  house  organ  that 
stood  in  the  forefront  of  publications  of  that  class  through- 
out the  world. 

Some  two  years  ago  the  author  attended  an  enthusiastic 
meeting  of  wholesalers  in  Minneapolis,  at  which  they 
pledged  themselves  to  help  the  retailers  (their  outlet)  in 
their  fight  against  the  mail-order  houses.  This  action  was 
taken  because  the  latter  are  admittedly  making  inroads  on 
the  community  development  idea  by  driving  out  the  cross- 
roads store. 

504 


BY  WHOLESALERS    AND  RETAILERS 


505 


After  all  is  said  and  done,  service  is  the  aeid-test  in  every 
industry.  Every  one  coming  between  the  cow  and  the  fin- 
ished pair  of  shoes,  for  example,  must  render  some  service 
or  the  basic  laws  of  economics  will  take  care  of  the  case 
eventually  by  eliminating  the  one  who  does  not  serve. 

In  this  chapter,  therefore,  we  shall  not  devote  a  large 
amount  of  space  to  the  wholesaler's  use  of  direct  advertis- 
ing because  few  wholesalers  are  using  that  form  to  any 


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Fig.  128. — One  progressive  wholesaler  devoted 
the  fore  part  of  his  catalogue  to  outlining  help- 
ful suggestions  like  this.     They  were  aimed  to 
sell  goods  for  the  retailers.     See  text  for  de- 
tails, 
large  extent,  except  in  one  particular — catalogues.     Most 
of  them  issue  catalogues,  which  are  often  paid  for  in  part 
by  the  manufacturer,  although  this  is  not  always  the  case. 
425.  How  One  Wholesaler  Uses  Direct  Advertising  to 
Help  Retailers.— The  firm  of  Finch,  Van  Slyek  &  McCon- 
ville,  St.  Paul,  is  one  of  the  country's  leading  exponents  of 


506         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

the  use  of  direct  advertising  by  wholesalers,  and  Fig.  128 
reproduces  a  suggested  layout  which  that  company  incor- 
porated in  its  catalogue  for  the  use  of  its  retailers.  Print- 
ers' Ink,  June  12,  1919,  in  telling  of  this  condensed  course 
in  advertising,  of  which  the  layout  is  merely  a  very  small 
part,  remarked:  "And  the  unusual  thing  about  this  ser- 
vice is  that  it  forms  an  integral  part  of  the  merchandising 
catalogue — right  up  in  front  with  diagrams,  layouts,  sug- 
gested sales  headings  and  copy  hints,  where  they  can  be  re- 
ferred to  frequently  without  the  danger  of  a  separate  ad- 
vertising manual  going  astray. ' ' 

This  book  tells  all  about  copy,  layout,  amount  of  appro- 
priation, sales  ideas,  illustrations,  etc. 

426.  One  Wholesaler  Uses  Monthly  Catalogue  to  Speed 
Up  Sales. — In  Nashville,  Tennessee,  is  a  firm  of  whole- 
salers which  has  found  the  publication  of  a  monthly  cata- 
logue an  excellent  method  of  speeding  up  sales  to  its  re- 
tailers. The  firm  is  Gray  &  Dudley  Company.  The 
monthly  catalogue  in  1917,  when  Printers'  Ink  described 
it,  contained  about  250  pages,  size  9  x  12  inches.  The  Gray 
&  Dudley  Company  differs  from  Butler  Brothers,  referred 
to  in  Section  424,  in  that  it  has  salesmen  who  call  on  the 
trade  and  its  catalogue  is  merely  a  means  of  backing  up 
the  firm's  personal  travelers.  For  further  details,  see 
Printers'  Ink,  June  28,  1917,  page  17. 

427.  Wholesalers  Can  Also  Help  to  Increase  Con- 
sumer Demand. — Harold  Halzell,  advertising  manager  of 
the  Williamson-Halzell-Frazier  Company,  wholesale  gro- 
cers, Oklahoma  City,  Oklahoma,  in  discussing  in  Mailbag 
for  October,  1917,  the  results  of  several  of  that  company's 
direct-advertising  campaigns — and  his  firm  is  one  of  the 
outstanding  ones  on  the  list  of  advertising  wholesalers — 
made  this  significant  remark:  ''Direct  advertising  will 
help  the  wholesaler  to  increase  consumer  demand  for  his 
brands.  If  he  sells  one  dealer  out  of  four  in  a  town,  he  can 
spend  his  efforts  building  sales  for  his  solitary  friend  and 
not  squander  it  in  general  advertising  trusting  that  he  will 
persuade  or  even  force,  the  other  three  dealers  into  line." 


BY  WHOLESALERS  AND  RETAILERS      507 

428.  Three  Types  of  Retailers  to  be  Considered. — In 

the  remaining  pages  of  this  chapter  we  shall  consider  three 
types  of  retailers:  (1)  department  stores,  (2)  individual 
retail  stores,  and  (3)  personal  businesses,  such  as  life-insur- 
ance agents  who  are  virtually  retailing  the  product  of  a 
manufacturer. 

J.  W.  Fisk,  a  specialist  in  retail  selling,  referred  to  all  of 
these  classes  when,  in  System,  he  said :  ' '  Most  retail  mer- 
chants take  it  for  granted  that  their  trade  is  limited  to  the 
business  that  is  done  over  the  counter  with  local  patrons. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  entirely  practicable  for  the  retailer 
to  extend  his  markets  by  drawing  trade  through  the  mails." 

428A.  Typical  Department-store  Direct-advertising 
Campaigns. — Fig.  4  B  illustrates  the  actual  division  of  the 
advertising  appropriation  of  the  J.  L.  Hudson  Company, 
Detroit,  Michigan.  Its  sales  manager,  J.  B.  Mills,  speaking 
at  the  Cleveland  convention  of  the  Direct  Mail  Advertising 
Association,  told  of  one  dress  sale — the  biggest  Detroit  had 
ever  seen — wherein  newspaper  advertising,  window  display, 
and  8000  personal  letters  to  the  out-of-town  prospects  made 
the  first  day's  total  $31,100,  and,  said  Mr.  Mills,  "we  know 
that  direct  mail  aided  materially  in  getting  those  figures." 

The  company's  gain  for  the  year,  he  said,  would  be  the 
largest  in  the  country,  in  all  likelihood,  and  added:  "I 
want  to  state  most  emphatically  that  a  goodly  proportion 
of  the  gain  has  been  made  through  direct  advertising." 

Printers'  Ink,  August  12,  1915,  makes  this  statement: 
"Lord  &  Taylor,  of  New  York,  are  extensive  users  of  direct 
advertising.  During  a  year  they  issue  an  almost  unbeliev- 
able number  of  booklets,  folders,  catalogues,  etc.  These  are 
sent  out  with  statements  or  individually  to  a  mailing  list 
of  selected  names."  The  same  publication  in  its  issue  of 
March  30,  1916,  gives  the  results  of  interviewing  thirty 
leading  department  stores  on  the  subject  of  their  mail- 
order activities,  which,  of  course,  are  embraced  within  di- 
rect advertising. 

Few  stores,  however,  have  as  full-rounded  a  campaign  as 
that  conducted  by  Hudson  in  Detroit.     Letters,  folders, 


^J|3     :   EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

booklets,  inelosures,  house  organs,  and  many  other  forms 
are  used  in  a  thorough  campaign  coordinated  with  news- 
paper and  display  campaigns.  A  few  stores  refuse  to  dis- 
tribute manufacturers'  advertising  material,  preferring  to 
push  sales  on  their  own  private  brands. 

429.  How  Retailers  Use  Direct  Advertising. — Perhaps 
the  retailer  most  written  up  in  America,  if  not  in  the 
world,  is  the  firm  of  Garver  Brothers  of  Strassburg,  Ohio. 
There  are  two  outstanding  reasons  for  the  success  of  that 
company — a  fixed  advertising  appropriation,  and  the  main- 
tenance of  a  mailing  list  to  which  direct  advertising  is  sent 
regularly.  The  advertising  appropriation  is  314  per  cent 
of  the  gross  sales. 

George  C.  Frolich  of  the  United  Drug  Company,  in  the 
issue  of  Postage  for  January,  1916,  made  this  statement : 
"It  is  not  only  possible  to  get  a  large  return  from  the  money 
you  invest  in  this  class  of  advertising,  but  it  is  relatively 
easy  to  do  so,  and  direct  advertising  is  both  inexpensive 
and  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  'small  storekeeper'  who  is 
endeavoring  to  build  a  business  on  the  foundation  of  'per- 
sonality.' " 

We  wish  space  permitted  the  reproduction  of  ]\Ir.  Fro- 
lich's  article  in  its  entirety  as  it  is  on  the  subject  of  re- 
tailers' use  of  direct  advertising,  and  the  results  he  has 
secured  are  decidedly  worth  mentioning :  A  letter  to  boys, 
which  cost  $18,  brought  $70  net  profit.  Forty-seven  dozen 
toothbrushes  sold  with  one  letter  to  337  near-by  prospects. 
"I  merely  talked  'a  six  months'  supply,'  "  said  Mr.  Frolich. 
He  also  sold  27  trunks  overnight  to  127  prospects.  In  ad- 
dition, in  one  month,  he  doubled  a  South  Boston  store's 
candy  business.     This  was  done  by  letters. 

He  cites  this  as  an  example  of  a  simple,  timely — almost 
homely — appeal  that  even  a  corner  grocer  can  make  to  in- 
crease business: 

Good  Morning,  Mrs.  Smith: 

The  five  tubs  of  butter  I  have  just  unpacked  are  the  finest 
I  have  received  this  year.  They  came  directly  from  a  Ver- 
mont Dairy  situated  in  the  green  grass  pasture  region. 


BY  WHOLESALERS  AND  RETAILERS      509 

The  people  who  operate  this  dairy  from  which  I  received 
this  shipment  make  only  a  limited  amount  of  butter  for  a  few 
particular  people  and  I  am  fortunate  in  being  able  to  handle 
this  line. 

I  can  only  receive  five  tubs  every  week  and  only  a  few  of 
our  select  customers  can  be  served  with  this  special  butter. 

Shall  I  put  your  name  down  for  four  or  five  pounds  to 
be  delivered  each  Wednesday?     The  price  is  the  same  exactly 

as  that,  charged  for  my  other  good  butter cents  a  pound. 

Oh,  yes,  I'll  send  you  any  quantity  you  wish,  from  day  to  day. 

The  inclosed  ready-addressed,  ready-signed  and  stamped 
card  lacks  only  your  statement  of  how  much  you  want  and 
the  time  of  delivery. 

You  can  terminate  this  service  any  time  you  wish. 

GOOD   CORNER   GROCER. 

For  good  grocery  service 
say  "No.  413"  in  your 
telephone. 

Mr.  Frolich  further  says:  "Just  think  of  the  ducks, 
chickens,  and  lamb  your  butcher  could  sell  for  Sunday 
dinners  by  similar  letters ! ' ' 

Fig.  129  illustrates  how  Wallach  Brothers,  New  York 
agents  for  Hart,  Schaffner  &•  Marx,  follow  up  old  customers 
whom  they  have  not  seen  for  some  time.  As  nearly  as  the 
writer  can  recall,  that  is  the  first  piece  of  direct  advertising 
of  this  nature  ever  received  from  a  dealer.  Were  we  now  lo- 
cated in  New  York  this  letter  would  probably  have  brought 
us  back  once  more  into  the  fold  of  Wallach 's  customers. 

Julian  Wetzel,  in  Postage  for  June,  1916,  page  9,  relates 
the  story  of  how  A.  G.  Lester,  of  Indianapolis,  Indiana,  by 
a  series  of  postal  cards  to  a  list  of  4000  names,  brought  in 
a  total  business  of  several  thousand  dollars.  For  May,  1916, 
for  example,  with  three  cards  and  one  folder,  the  business 
was  $3,000  larger  than  for  May,  1915,  while  June,  1915, 
showed  an  increase  of  65  per  cent  over  the  business  of 
June,  1914.  These  simple  appeals  were  always  made  on 
government  postal  card  stock,  at  a  cost  (formerly)  of  print- 
ing in  one  color  from  $5  to  $10,  two  colors  from  $8  to  $15, 
^nd  mailing  at  an  average  cost  of  about  $35. 


510         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

In  commenting'  on  this  campaign,  Mr.  Wetzel  sized  up 
the  effectivenessr  of  every  retailer 's  campaign  when  he  said : 
* '  There  is  nothing  startling  about  it.  and  nothing  strange, 
except  its  persistence-  and  continuity."  [The  italics  are 
Julian 's,  not  the  writer 's.] 


Wallach  Bros, 

tIAXT,  SCUAFVWBR  &  MARX  3o»  avZTco 

New  York.  oot.  utn,  i»so. 


Kr.  R.  t.  Ra«*r, 

18  Bod*  St., 
Cahortt,  I.  T. 

Omt  Straaitrt- 

W*  bav*  oot  bad  tho  plouur*  of  •••la(  jou 
tor  quit*  SOB*  tla*.     Can  Ufthliic  bo  «rOD|! 

It  io,  von't  Jon  ploaio  toll  no.  ao  tbat 
wo  ««a  rlfbt  It.     Kotbiof  bitrti  ui  moro  than  tor  a  ouf 
toMr  to  bo  dlioatlotiod  and  koop  It  to  bimatlf. 

Ottos,  booovor,  onr  trloado  atop  coalag  la 
tor  a  wbllo  Juat  bocauio  tlioj  "don't  (Ot  around  to  tt.* 

It  tbla  1(  70ttr  oaio,  b«ro  to  a  vorj  (ood 
roaiOB  obj  |0u  abould  tot  around  ■Itbout  tall. 

To  colobrato  our  S9rd  Btr'tbdar.  oo  bavo 
Mrkod. 

(000        K«KT  S  C  H  *  r  7  N  ■  II      •      VIRX 

tllMTIR  OVkSCOATS 

t  •  0 

Xaotbor  ttno  and  undtr  ditforont  elreom- 
otaneoo  1^  aiibt  fltlj  quot«  tho  tavlnfa  In  dollars  and 
ooBtii  tor  tboj  ar*  vorj  vortb  obllo. 

Bat  tbli  i<  Birthday  Tla*.  Vako  our  «ord 
(or  tt.  nu  la  •  roal  Ctlobratlon  Taluo> 

Torj  Trulj  Tour*< 

■allaob  Broi>» 


Fig.   129. — How  a  prominent  New  York  retailer  follows  up  cus- 
tomers to  find  out  why  they  do  not  call  again.     Note  the  salutation. 


BY  WHOLESALERS  AND  RETAILERS      511 

430.  Additional  References  to  Retailers  Using  Direct 
Advertising. — The  following  are  notable  reports  on  the 
effective  use  of  retailer 's  direct  advertising : 

Mailbag,  November,  1919,  page  196.  How  retailers  can  bring 
back  neglected  profits.     Illustrated. 

Mailbag,  July,  1920,  page  115.  Maxwell  Droke  tells  a  fact- 
story  about  how  a  Grand  Junction  (Colorado)  outing  shop  gets 
business  by  mail.  The  business  has  grown  in  eight  years  from 
$8000  annually  to  over  $50,000  annually.     Illustrated. 

Mailbag,  September,  1920.  John  M.  Palmer  describes  the  man- 
ner in  which  retailers  may  use  good  art  work  by  buying  syndicated 
appeals.  Gives  facts.  One  case  brought  $2800  worth  of  business 
at  a  $78  expense,  for  example.     Illustrated. 

Postage,  September,  1916,  page  182.  Sherley  Hunter  relates 
the  complete  story  of  the  famous  Jevne  campaigns.  Fully  il- 
lustrated. 

Postage,  July,  1918,  page  6.  William  J.  Betting  writes  on 
"Direct  Advertising  for  Retailers." 

Business,  April,  1920,  page  14,  shows  how,  by  mail,  a  country 
store  draws  trade  for  fifty  miles.     Illustrated. 

Business,  October,  1920,  page  13.  How  a  Kansas  retailer  gets 
customers  by  personal  letters. 

Sloan  and  Mt)oney,  in  their  new  book,  "Advertising  a 
Technical  Product,"  make  this  statement  with  reference 
to  planning  a  campaign  for  the  dealer  in  machinery,  mill 
supplies,  heavy  hardware,  and  power-transmission  equip- 
ment: "Direct  mail  is  the  most  dependable  form  of  ad- 
vertising for  the  dealer. ' ' 

Other  retailers'  experiences  will  be  found  in  Sections 
463  to  465,  inclusive ;  and  475  and  476. 

431.  Helping  to  Sell  Life  Insurance  by  Direct  Adver- 
tising.— Most  of  us  detest  insurance  solicitors,  and  yet  we 
should  not.  They  do  us  a  service  and  perhaps  save  our 
wives  and  kiddies  from  want.  The  shrewd  sellers  of  in- 
surance pave  the  way  for  their  call  by  direct-advertising 
campaigns. 

The  usual  plan  is  to  have  a  series  of  letters,  by  the  first 
one  or  two  of  which  insurance  is  sold  in  general  terms, 


512         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

and  with  the  third  or  fourth  letters  the  prospect  is  sold 
the  form  of  insurance  which  is  offered. 

Elsewhere  reference  was  made  to  the  splendid  di- 
rect advertising  of  the  Imperial  Life  Assurance  Company 
of  Canada.  From  a  direct-advertising  viewpoint,  much 
cannot  be  said  for  the  American  companies,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  house  organ  of  the  Metropolitan  Company 
with  a  circulation  of  5,000,000.  With  American  insurance 
companies  the  good  direct  advertising  is  done  mostly  by  the 
agents  themselves. 

These  opening  sentences  from  a  series  of  four  effective 
letters  reproduced  in  Mailhag  for  May,  1917,  will  indicate 
the  trend  : 

1.  A  man  of  —  years  in  good  health  is  supposed  to  have  a 
fair  chance  to  live  —  years,  or  until  he  is  —  years  of  age. 

2.  "Yes,"  you  may  say,  "I  know  life  is  uncertain,  but  I  am 
willing  to  take  the  risk.  This  life  insurance  is  all  right,  but 
I  prefer  to  invest  my  money  in  something  else,  or  put  it  in 
the  bank." 

3.  A  short  time  ago  this  company  received  notice  of  the 
death  of  one  of  its  policyholders,  etc. 

4.  Suppose  the  president  of  the  strongest  and  most  reliable 
bank  you  know  invites  you  into  his  office,  places  before  you 
$1,000  in  gold  and  says  to  you,  etc. 

William  S.  Hull,  in  Postage  for  November,  1916,  has  a 
large  number  of  sample  letters  and  gives  some  interesting 
results,  such  as  "4  per  cent  inquiries  from  the  first  letter. 
Five  policies  sold  to  each  1000  names,  etc." 

Leon  A.  Soper,  manager  sales  service,  Phoenix  Mutual 
Life  Insurance  Company,  in  telling  at  Detroit,  in  October, 
1920,  how  sales  cooperation  on  the  direct-mail  plan  produced 
$8,000,000  sales  in  one  year,  laid  down  these  fundamental 
principles : 

"First  of  all,  we  are  not  afraid  to  invest  liberally  in  the 
best  paper  that  can  be  bought. 

''Secondly,  we  always  pay  the  postage  on  the  reply  card. 

"Thirdly,  our  letter  and  message  are  tuned  as  correctly 
as  possible  to  suit  the  person  on  the  receiving  end. 


BY  WHOLESALERS    AND  RETAILERS  513 

"Fourthly,  the  opportunity  for  generating  good  will 
through  the  advertising  novelty  is  not  lost  sight  of  in  our 
plan." 

Mr.  Soper  explained  that  the  company's  returns  varied 
from  10  to  18  per  cent. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

HOW  BANKS,  TRUST  COMPANIES,  AND  BOND  HOUSES  HAVE 
USED  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  EFFECTIVELY 

432.  Banks  the  Victims  of  Many  Questionable  Adver- 
tising Schemes. — It  is  easy  to  get  a  list  of  all  the  banks  of 
the  United  States  and  Canada,  with  names  of  all  their 
officers,  their  capital  stock,  surplus,  etc.  All  that  is  neces- 
sary is  to  turn  to  the  mercantile  directories  and  copy  the  in- 
formation. 

For  this  reason,  banks  are  nationally  "pestered  to 
death,"  as  one  cashier  told  the  author,  with  schemes  of  all 
kinds  for  advertising  the  bank's  service — for  practically 
all  banks  are  conducted  on  similar  principles.  What  one 
bank  has  to  offer,  aside  from  the  personal  treatment  of  the 
bank's  employees  and  officers,  is  almost  identical  with  what 
every  other  bank  offers.  Thus  by  taking  a  list  of  banks 
and  endeavoring  to  sell  them,  a  "syndicate"  appeal  be- 
comes simple. 

Next,  from  a  strictly  local  standpoint,  banks  are  pes- 
tiferously solicited  to  take  an  advertisement  in  the  First 
Church  program,  or  the  baseball  score  card,  or  some  similar 
medium,  the  advertising  value  of  which  is,  to  say  the  least, 
questionable. 

The  following  paragraphs,  from  Chapter  XII  of  "Effec- 
tive House  Organs,"  which  was  written  by  the  author  of 
this  book,  show  how  banks  can  produce  results  by  direct 
advertising  with  a  limited  cost : 

"  'When  the  writer  came  to  this  bank  on  September  1, 
1913,  it  had  been  organized  twenty-two  months  and  had 
individual  deposits  of  $7,000  with  297  depositors,'  wrote 
the  cashier  of  a  small-town  bank  located  in  the  lower  part 
of  California. 

514 


BANKS,  TRUST  COMPANIES,  BOND  HOUSES      515 

"On  March  29,  1917,  the  same  man  reported :  'We  have 
now  approximately  1200  deposits  and  individual  deposits 
ranging  from  $220,000  to  $225,000.  The  increase  has  been 
due  to  the  publicity  fjiven  through  the  house  organ  and  the 
cordial  manner  of  meeting  the  public  by  those  connected 
with  the  bank,  and  the  best  possible  treatment  of  depositors 
and  the  public  at  large.' 

' '  The  house  organ  referred  to  was  a  very  simple  6x9 
four-page  book.  The  expense  was  nominal — the  results 
were  almost  phenomenal." 

433.  Bank  Campaigns  Often  Lack  Continuity. — The 
example  cited  in  Section  432  proves  a  point  that  is  an 
especially  weak  link  in  the  chain  of  publicity  of  the  average 
bank — it  proves  continuity  is  stronger  than  cost.  An  inex- 
pensive but  persistent  campaign  will  overcome  an  expen- 
sive one  planned  on  a  hit-or-miss  basis. 

The  form  of  appeal  to  be  recommended  for  banks  is,  as 
a  rule,  the  house  organ,  because  of  its  continuity.  There 
are  many  quite  successful  bank  house  organs  in  this  coun- 
try. Though  very  few  of  us  get  enough  money  to  require 
more  than  one  bank  for  its  safekeeping,  yet  there  would  be 
comparatively  little  duplication  if  every  one  of  the  33,000 
banks  issued  a  house  organ. 

Banks  have  a  wonderful  message  for  their  depositors  and 
should-be  depositors.  The  Liberty  loans  were  sold  to  25,- 
000,000,  whereas  bankers  and  bond-sellers  said  500,000  was 
the  limit  of  bond-buyers  in  America. 

Yet,  now  that  the  war  is  over,  many  of  the  25,000,000 
know  little  or  nothing  about  bond-buying  because  no  one 
has  made  an  effort  to  educate  them. 

Bank  campaigns  must  not  only  be  continuous  but  they 
must  create  confidence.  The  appeals  must  be  dignified,  as 
a  rule,  and  appear  on  impressive  paper;  moreover,  they 
should  be  written  in  non-banking  language.  ''Accrued  in- 
terest" is  near-Greek  to  the  average  prospect. 

434.  How  One  Bank  Got  New  Savings  Accounts. — 
James  W.  Carr,  manager  of  service  and  extension.  People's 
State  Bank,  Indianapolis,  in  the  September  issue  of  Mail- 


516         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

bag  tells  how  that  institution  secured  500  new  savings  ac- 
counts by  a  direct-advertising  campaign. 

A  series  of  three  letters  was  prepared.  The  first  one 
offered  an  American  flag,  "four  feet  by  six,"  for  those 
opening  savings  accounts  of  $1  or  more.  The  offer  was 
made  just  prior  to  July  4.  The  recipient  was  asked  if  he  did 
not  care  to  take  advantage  of  the  offer  to  hand  it  to  some 
one  else — and  many  did.    This  went  to  checking  accounts. 

The  second  letter,  which  was  sent  to  a  list  of  small  bond- 
buyers,  repeated  the  appeal  and  played  up  the  approaching 
Fourth  of  July. 

The  third  letter  was  sent  to  those  already  using  the  sav- 
ings department  and  asked  them  to  tell  others  about  the  flag 
offer  to  new  customers.  They  were  asked,  also,  to  "hand 
the  letter"  to  other  prospects.  The  total  list  was  2700 
names  and  the  aim  was  to  secure  300  accounts.  It  was  ex- 
pected that  a  follow-up  of  the  first  mailing  would  be  neces- 
sary, but,  as  Mr.  Carr  puts  it,  "we  were  most  agreeably 
surprised.  The  first  three  days  after  our  letters  were  in  the 
mails  we  reached  the  three  hundred  mark.  We  had  to  put 
on  extra  'new  account'  clerks.  We  kept  people  waiting 
in  line  to  open  accounts.  We  decided  to  set  a  limit  of  500 
accounts  by  July  4 — four  days  away.  ...  At  twelve 
o'clock  on  the  day  set  to  end  the  campaign — our  closing 
hour  was  two — the  five-hundredth  flag  went  across  the  new 
account  desk,  and  before  the  closing  hour  another  forty  per- 
sons had  deposited  money  and  had  been  promised  flag  de- 
livery later." 

The  average  initial  deposit  was  close  to  $40. 

435.  How  a  Trust  Company  Increased  Business  220 
Per  Cent  by  Direct  Advertising.^ — T.  H.  Yull,  advertising 
consultant  of  the  Canada  Trust  Company,  London,  Canada, 
before  the  San  Francisco  convention  of  the  Associated  Ad- 
vertising Clubs  told  how  this  was  accomplished  with  a 
campaign  composed  of  three  forms  of  appeal — folders, 
booklets,  and  letters.  He  said,  in  part :  "A  series  of  well- 
written,  well-printed  folders  containing  a  facsimile  repro- 
duction of  the  bond  and  coupons  was  prepared.     In  passing. 


BANKS,  TRUST  COMPANIES,  BOND  HOUSES      517 

I  might  say  that  it  has  been  abundantly  proved  that  the 
main  reason  for  the  unusual  success  of  these  folders  was 
that  we  showed  facsimiles  of  the  bond  and  coupon." 

436.  What  the  Big  Banks  and  Trust  Companies  Are 
Doing. — Some  startling  figures  of  the  magnitude  of  direct 
advertising  on  the  part  of  the  big  New  York  banks  and 
trust  companies  were  quoted  by  Edward  A.  Kendrick  of 
Redfield-Kendrick-Odell  Company,  New  York,  when  speak- 
ing before  the  New  Orleans  convention  of  the  Associated 
Advertising  Clubs. 

The  Guaranty  Trust  Company  of  New  York,  for  example, 
during  the  year  1918  distributed  3,843,392  booklets  and 
pamphlets — covering  158  different  subjects — to  mailing 
lists  comprising  about  350,000  names. 

The  National  City  Bank  (year  September  1,  1918,  to  Sep- 
tember 1,  1919)  issued  and  distributed  free  of  cost  five  reg-; 
ular  publications  with  a  total  yearly  circulation  in  excess  of 
two  millions:  (1)  The  Bulletin,  published  in  English, 
Spanish,  and  French,  circulation  more  than  1,250,000  a 
year,  and  issued  monthly;  {2)The  Americas,  a  monthly  il- 
lustrated magazine  with  342,000  mailed  a  year;  (3)  Foreign 
Trade  Record,  a  mimeographed  report  issued  weekly  by 
the  Statistical  Department;  (4)  The  Blue  Sheet,  a  mimeo- 
graphed weekly  report  of  the  Foreign  Trade  Department; 
(5)  Number  Eight,  an  internal  or  employees'  house  organ 
(magazine). 

The  total  number  of  pieces  issued  by  the  National  City 
Company  during  the  preceding  year  (Mr.  Kendrick  spoke 
in  September)  was  in  excess  of  2,500,000. 

These  publications  were  in  addition  to  the  regular  state- 
ments, the  bond  offerings  of  the  bond-selling  department, 
and  so  on.  ]\Iany  of  the  big  New  York  banks,  especially 
the  Irving  National  Bank,  have  issued  valuable  bound 
volumes  on  foreign  trade  as  well  as  innumerable  paper- 
bound  books  on  helpful  subjects.  In  this  connection  see 
Section  444. 

437.  Typical  Bank  Campaigns. — Walt  Marsh  in  Postage 
for  May,  1917^  page  223,  describes  an  opening-day  campaign 


518 


EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


by  which  the  bank  "cashed  in"  on  moving  into  a  new 
bXiilding.     Letters  were  sent  to  prospects  and  stockholders. 


The  City"Natio:nai/ B-aijk 


CAPTUiZ*  •  S00.000.00 


HOUYOKBfl'lASS.   Kbp,  J?^  1980. 


Aaertoan  Writing  Paper  Co., 
Eol70ke,  IbSB. 

Sear  Kr.  Ranaey:- 

Vs  are  pleased  to  leara  that  yen 
•re  to  become  a  resident  of  Holjolce,  and  trnst 
jon  will  find'  this  olty  attractiTe  and  pleasant  In 
erery  way  as  year  peroanent  home. 

We  also  wish  to  assure  you  that  a 
cordial .welcome  awaits  you  at  the  City  National 
Bank.  If  there  is  any  information  regarding  looal 
conditions  which  you  may  desire,  if  there  is  any 
way  in  which  you  think  our  serTloss  could  he  of 
▼alne  to  yon,  we  cordially  inrite  you  to  come  in 
and  see  us  at  your  first  opportunity. 

Trusting  you  will  fayor  us  with  at 
least  a  part  of  your  banking  business,  and  antioipatlBg 
the  pleasure  of  meeting  you  personally,  we  remain 


Very  truly 


ut/al 


Fig.  130. — How  one  city  bank  by  a  personally  written  letter  adver- 
tises direct  to  new  residents. 

Postage  for  February,  1919,  page  50,  carries  the  story  of  a 
successful  direct-advertising  campaign  which  is  described 
by  D.  McEachern,  a  prominent  Canadian  banker. 


BANKS,  TRUST  COMPANIES,  BOND  HOUSES      519 

H.  D.  Bobbins,  of  H.  D.  Robbins  &  Company,  New  York 
specialists  in  bank  advertising,  in  an  issue  of  the  Financial 
Advertisers'  Association  bulletin,  made  this  observation: 
"My  experience  in  financial  advertising  leads  me  to  rate 
advertising  mediums  in  the  following  order  of  value:  (1) 
Direct  advertising;  (2)  Newspapers;  (3)  Magazines;  (4) 
Supplementary  advertising." 

The  following  is  typical  of  a  simple  campaign — a  single 
piece  (personal  letter)  sent  to  each  new  resident  in  a  city. 
This  sample  was  sent  out  by  a  White  Plains  (New  York) 
bank  and  is  culled  from  the  "Little  Schoolmaster's 
Column,"  of  Printers'  Ink: 

We  understand  that  you  have  recently  become  a  resident 
of  this  city,  and  we  beg  to  place  our  banking  facilities  at 
your  disposal. 

Interest  is  allowed  at  the  rate  of  4  per  cent  per  annum  on 
accounts  opened  in  our  Interest  Department. 

Accounts  opened  in  our  Commercial  Department  are  sub- 
ject to  cheek  at  any  time.  Interest  will  be  allowed  at  current 
rates  on  balances  when  warranted. 

Safe  Deposit  Box  rentals  are  $4  per  year  and  upward. 

Checks  drawn  on  the  Citizens  Bank  are  received  in  New 
York  at  par. 

We  cordially  invite  you  to  open  an  account  with  us. 

Fig.  130  illustrates  another  letter  of  this  type  used  by  a 
Massachusetts  bank  for  the  same  purpose.  In  this  case  it  is 
accompanied  by  an  inclosure  giving  details  of  bank,  its 
assets,  officers,  etc.  Note  how  much  more  the  letter  repro- 
duced offers  service  than  the  one  quoted.  It  is  hardly  likely 
that  a  new  resident  is  half  as  anxious  about  finding  a  bank 
as  he  is  of  learning  about  "local  conditions." 

438.  Getting  Banking  Accounts  by  Mail. — In  the  issue 
of  Printers'  Ink  for  August  26,  1920,  J.  K,  Novins  relates 
the  method  by  which  the  Williamsburgh  Savings  Bank, 
finding  its  home  field  usurped  through  a  peculiar  set  of 
circumstances,  advertised  for  business  to  be  sent  by  mail, 
with  pleasing  results. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

HOW  DIRECT  ADVERTTSTNG  HAS  BEEN  USED  EFFECTIVELY 
IN  FOREIGN  TRADE  EXTENSION 

439.  Must  First  Know  the  Market. — It  seems  almost 
self-evident,  yet  at  the  outset  it  must  be  repeated  that 
before  any  foreign  trade  work  can  be  undertaken  the  adver- 
tiser must  know  the  market.  Paul  Sauer,  advertising  man- 
ager Columbian  Steel  Tank  Company,  a  naturalized  Ameri- 
can, was  born  abroad  and  knows  foreign  trade  conditions 
from  first-hand  study.  Before  the  Direct  Mail  Advertising 
Convention  at  Detroit  (1920),  Mr.  Sauer  said:  "Stupid- 
ity and  shortsightedness — the  idea  that  a  man  can  stick 
pins  in  a  map,  appropriate  $2000  for  the  work,  and  expect 
$1,000,000  in  returns  are  the  hurdles  that  American  busi- 
ness men  must  surmount  if  they  would  succeed  in  export 
trade." 

Mr.  Sauer  cited  a  few  examples,  such  as  that  of  a  firm  in 
Korea  ordering  an  American  manufacturer  not  to  send  pins 
in  pink  paper,  and  yet  the  manufacturer,  ignoring  the  re- 
quest, shipped  just  that  color.  Pink  is  the  sacred  color  of 
Koreans  and  cannot  be  sold  as  merchandise. 

Directly  applicable  to  the  direct-advertising  field  is  a 
statement  recently  made  in  the  advertising  of  the  Seaman 
Paper  Company,  which  informs  us  that  white  is  the  mourn- 
ing color  of  China,  yet  firms  continue  to  use  white  paper  in 
trying  to  sell  goods  there.  See  Section  444  for  further 
data  on  this  point. 

Perhaps  the  simplest  thing  that  is  to  be  learned  by  those 
going  after  foreign  trade  is  the  proper  amount  of  postage 
to  put  on  mail  matter,  yet  Edwin  Sands,  assistant  superin- 
tendent, Division  of  Foreign  Mails,  United  States  Post 
Office  Department,  in  addressing  the  Detroit  convention 
said:     "Last  year  there  were  1,739,084  insufficiently  pre- 

520 


IN  FOREIGN  TRADE  EXTENSION  521 

paid  letters  sent  abroad."  Upon  these  the  foreign  ad- 
dressee had  to  pay  twice  the  amount  short ;  that  is,  if  the 
letter  was  underpaid  three  cents  the  foreign  addressee 
had  to  pay  six  cents  to  get  the  letter. 

440.  Pictures  Important  in  Reaching  Foreign  Mar- 
kets.— Much  has  been  written  on  the  subject  of  how  to  sell 
the  foreign  markets,  and  in  our  limited  space  we  have  room 
only  for  generally  admitted  underlying  principles.  The 
first  of  these  is  that  pictures  have  a  universal  appeal.  By 
this  we  do  not  suggest  that  you  take  your  American  engrav- 
ings and  reproduce  them  in  Africa  or  South  America.  As 
one  man  put  it,  "No  self-respecting  Chinese  mandarin 
wants  to  imagine  himself  as  a  lanky  American  lounge-lizard 
wearing  American  store  clothes.  Chin  Foy  Loo,  of  Shang- 
hai, likes  comforts,  position,  wealth,  and  convenience  just 
as  much  as  John  Smith  of  Hoboken — provided,  of  course, 
that  they  are  Chinese  comforts,  position,  wealth,  and  con- 
venience." 

Use  pictures  liberally,  then,  but  let  them  be  literally  true 
to  the  needs  of  the  country  in  which  they  are  to  circulate. 

441.  Building  the  Export  Catalogue. — Quite  naturally 
the  catalogue  is  the  principal  piece  to  be  used  in  going  after 
foreign  trade. 

Walter  F.  Wyman,  manager  of  the  Export  Department, 
the  Carter's  Ink  Company,  Boston,  who  has  written  much 
on  the  subject,  in  Printers'  Ink  for  December  27, 
1917,  gave  the  fundamentals  to  be  followed  in  preparing  an 
export  catalogue.  He  said  in  part:  "While  a  handsome 
catalogue  may  be  only  of  passing  assistance  to  the  sales- 
man's persmml  attack,  it  is  usually  the  attention-arrester, 
the  desire-creater,  and  the  action-compeller  in  mail 
work.  .  ,  . 

"Out  of  the  thousands  of  American  manufacturers  who 
are  directly  exporting  their  products  in  volumes,  large  and 
small,  there  are  perhaps  two  score  whose  export  catalogues 
are  salesmen  in  the  highest  sense.  These  'salesmen'  create 
confidence  in  the  firm's  ability  not  only  to  make  goods,  but 
also  to  create  a  presumption  that  the  firm  behind  them  will 


522         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

be  thoroughly  desirable  in  the  entire  business  relation- 
ship. .  .  . 

"  'Make  it  easy  to  buy'  is  the  motto  which  should  always 
be  before  the  builder  of  an  export  catalogue, ' '  was  the  con- 
eluding  plea  of  Mr.  Wyman,  who  argues  throughout  for  the 
catalogue  as  a  salesman. 

Mr.  Wyman  referred  to  the  export  catalogues  of  the  fol- 
lowing concerns  as  being  soundly  principled : 

Simonds  Mfg.  Company,  Fitchburg,  Mass.,  saws. 
Henry  Disston  &  Sons,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  saws. 
American  Crayon  Company,  Waltham,  Mass. 
Waltham  Watch  Company,  Waltham,  Mass. 
Miller  Rubber  Company,  Akron,  Ohio. 

C.  C.  Martin,  advertising  manager  National  Paper  & 
Type  Company,  New  York,  in  an  address  before  the  League 
of  Advertising  Women,  New  York,  gave  some  further  ideas 
on  this  subject.  He  emphasized  ^Ir.  Wyman 's  statement, 
that  firms  were  judged  largely  by  the  appearance  of  the 
catalogue,  when  he  said:  "A  handsome  catalogue  pro- 
duced as  it  should  be  and  meeting  the  exacting  conditions 
it  should  meet  will  at  once  establish  the  house  in  the  eyes 
of  the  foreign  buyer." 

Mr.  Martin  believes  that  prices  should  be  printed  in  the 
catalogue  itself,  or  an  accompanying  price  list,  and  should 
be  stated  in  American  gold.  The  exact  shipping  weight 
of  the  goods  net,  the  case  weight,  and  the  code  name,  or 
word  for  a  product,  should  be  clearly  stated.  Discounts 
should  be  mentioned  plainly  and  the  character  of  the  speci- 
fication, such  as  f.o.b.  factory,  or  steamer,  and  so  on,  as  well 
as  specifications  of  mea,surements  and  dimensions,  should  be 
given  in  the  metric  sy^ifem. 

Terms  of  sale,  and  /hether  there  is  an  extra  charge  for 
export  packing,  shoul^-f  be  given  in  unmistakable  terms. 

If  your  product  can  be  used  under  varying  conditions, 
make  this  point  clear.  Some  foreign  countries  are  primi- 
tive in  their  methods. 

This  statement  from  Mr.  Martin  might  also  be  followed 
advantageously  by  American  direct  advertisers:     "No  cat- 


IN  FOREIGN  TRADE  EXTENSION  523 

alogue  should  be  sent  abroad  without  a  letter  and  the  two 
pieces  should  be  mailed  so  they  will-arrive  simultaneously." 
In  America,  as  well  as  in  some  foreign  countries,  patented 
containers  permit  the  mailing  of  the  letter  by  first-class 
mail  and  the  catalogue  by  third-class  mail  at  the  same  time 
and  in  one  bundle.  An  examination  of  the  advertising 
pages  of  any  advertising  publication  will  give  you  the 
names  and  addresses  of  manufacturers  of  these  devices. 

Those  interested  in  Mr.  Martin's  further  remarks  on  the 
subject  will  find  them  reported  in  Printers'  Ink,  April  24, 
1919,  and  in  Associated  Advertising,  June,  1919. 

442.  Making  a  Test  Campaign. — "Even  a  small  appro- 
priation like  $500  will  cover  the  entire  cost  of  a  five-letter 
series  with  attractive  inclosures,  the  cost  of  following  up 
the  inquiries  which  develop,  and  modest  two-fold,  two-color 
price  lists  in  Spanish  and  English.  Based  on  a  careful 
selection  of  500  possible  buyers,  and  not  including  cost  of 
credit  reports  on  firms  that  order  (for  these  come  after  the 
effort  and  hence  are  not  part  of  an  'introductory  test'), 
$500  furnishes  the  means  to  determine,  not  whether  the  line 
is  exportable,  but  whether  it  can  be  sold  profitably  by  mail 
endeavor  alone,"  writes  Walter  F.  Wyman,  in  World's 
Work. 

In  the  same  article,  he  tells  of  how  one  Chicago  firm,  by 
circularizing  1000  prospects,  secured  30  trial  orders  amount- 
ing to  less  than  $1000,  but  that  one  of  these  30  is  now  on 
an  agency  basis  carrying  a  stock  of  $30,000  and  clears  an 
annual  profit  of  $10,000. 

Much  greater  returns  will  be  secured,  he  adds,  as  a  rule, 
if  salesmen  are  employed  to  follow  up  the  leads. 

443.  Building  a  Business  Entirely  by  Mail. — Yet  it  is 
an  admitted  fact  that  some  of  the  American  mail-order 
houses  have  built  up  enormous  foreign  business  entirely  by 
mail.  Montgomery  Ward  &  Company,  Chicago,  are  espe- 
cially strong  in  foreign  fields.  This  firm's  plans  and 
methods  will  be  found  written  up  in  the  issue  of  Printers' 
Ink  for  September  5,  1918,  and  December  5,  1918. 

Clayton   S.    Cooper,   editorial   director  W.   R.   Grace  & 


524        EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Company,  international  merchants,  in  Advertising  &  Sell- 
ing for  January  17,  1920,  suggests  the  house  organ  as  a 
splendid  field  for  extending  foreign-trade  promotion  plans. 
**The  medium  (house  organ)  contains  the  possibility  of 
carrying  a  fund  of  information  which  people  in  foreign 
countries  may  wish  to  secure,  with  particular  allusions  to 
the  ability  of  the  firm  to  fill  orders  for  these  commodities. 
Such  publications  should  be  edited  with  a  degree  of  dignity 
and  general  effectiveness  attending  the  export  correspond- 
ence work." 

444.  Foreign  Work  in  Particular  Fields. — China  has 
been  spoken  of  as  a  wonderfully  fertile  field  for  American 
foreign-trade  work.  From  Printers'  Ink  Monthly  (Octo- 
ber, 1920)  we  quote  the  following  Chinese  color  preferences 
as  an  aid  in  developing  direct  advertising  for  that  country : 

I.  Separate  colors  in  order  of  preference:  1.  Gold;  2.  Silver; 
3.  Red;  4.  Yellow;  5.  Blue;  6.  White;  7.  Black. 

II.  Colors  in  combinations;  and  significance: 
Gold-on-red — especial  happiness. 
Gold-on-yellow — imperial. 
Gold-on-white — aristocratic. 
Red-on-white — important   notice. 
Red-on-green,  or 

Black-on-red — happiness. 

Yellow-on-green — first  class. 

White-on-black — historical — used  in  ancient  art. 

Red-on-yellow — royal. 

Red  (brilliant) — color  for  men,  male. 

Blue  or  Green — color  for  women,  female. 

Printers'  Ink,  August  28,  1913,  contains  a  number  of 
suggestions  on  how  to  sell  in  Porto  Rico,  a  near-by  export 
field. 

Advertising  &  Selling,  during  1920,  ran  a  series  of 
articles  on  exporting  to  various  countries,  many  of  which 
were  written  by  Mr.  Cooper,  who  is  referred  to  in  Section 
443. 

The  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce,  Wasli- 
ington,  D.  C,  has  published  several  pamphlets  from  the  pen 


IN  FOREIGN  TRADE  EXTENSION  525 

of  J,  W.  Sanger,  America's  Foreign  Trade  Ambassador. 
They  are  available  for  a  few  cents  each  and  to  date  cover 
South  America  and  Cuba.     Others  are  in  process. 

The  Irving  National  Bank  has  issued  two  cloth-bound 
books,  one  "Trading  with  Latin  America"  and  the  other 
"Trading  with  the  Far  East,"  which  are  very  helpful. 
The  following  specific  direct-advertising  references  are 
taken  from  these  two  volumes,  by  special  permission  of 
Daniel  V.  Casey,  formerly  managing  editor  of  System, 
but  now  connected  with  the  Irving  National  BanTi  as 
editor : 

Latin  America:  "Advertising  matter,  of  practically  every 
kind,  is  of  value.  Its  use  is  not  confined  to  newspapers,  but 
novelties,  signs,  electrical  displays,  etc., — all  have  a  place. 
The  particular  kind  depends  exclusively  upon  the  purpose 
for  which  it  is  planned.  ...  As  a  race  the  Latin  American 
people  appreciate  souvenirs  and  do  much  to  obtain  them." 

Far  East:  "Direct  advertising  offers  another  and  impor- 
tant means  of  reaching  English-speaking  prospects  in  all 
parts  of  the  Far  East.  Circulars  and  catalogues  can  easily 
be  adapted  for  use  in  the  Orient.  The  language  handicap 
does  not  exist  and  the  problem  of  correspondence  is  only  a 
little  more  serious  than  with  the  prospect  in  Arizona  or 
Saskatchewan.  Not  a  few  American  distributors,  indeed, 
have  found  English-speaking  residents  in  the  Far  East  very 
responsive  to  direct-selling  effort  directed  at  their  individual 
needs.  When  they  are  large-scale  buyers  for  resale  or  for 
use  in  the  establishments  which  they  control,  the  task  of  per- 
suading them  is  more  difficult.  In  preparing  the  way,  how- 
ever, for  the  visit  of  the  salesman,  direct  advertising  and 
personal  letters  can  be  of  great  value." 

Dutch  East  Indies:  "Price  lists  and  catalogues  are  not 
effective  in  approaching  the  markets.  The  merchants  prefer 
to  do  business  direct  with  an  agent  stationed  on  the  islands,  or 
with  a  visiting  salesman." 

Indo-China:  "The  commercial  language  is  French;  that 
commonly  used  by  the  natives  is  Annamese.  All  corre- 
spondence and  descriptive  matter  should  be  in  French.  .  .  . 
A  large  percentage  of  the  Annamese  are  illiterate,  and  this 
gives  to  illustrated  advertising  a  special  value." 


526         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Japan:  "All  forms  of  advertising  are  effective  in  Japan. 
.  ,  .  Advertising  wrappers  on  the  articles  sold  often  bring 
good  returns." 

Philippines:  "The  advertising  appeal  is  much  the  same 
as  in  the  United  States,  but  advertising  matter  should  be 
prepared  with  a  careful  eye  to  the  customs  and  habits  of  the 
native  purchasers.  Some  American  concei'ns  have  their  ad- 
vertising prepared  in  native  languages  by  writers  in  Manila. 
Illustrated  advertising  posters  may  be  used  to  advantage." 

Straits  Settlements:  "Plenty  of  printed  and  illustrated 
matter  should  be  sent.  This  may  be  supplemented  by  ju- 
dicious advertising  in  local  newspapers  and  by  the  use  of 
posters  and  circulars.  Dealers  expect  the  manufacturer  to 
bear  at  least  part  of  the  advertising  expense." 

ADDITIONAL  REFERENCES 

Printers'  Ink,  September  9,  1920,  page  33.  "Sampling  in  Ex- 
port Selling,"  by  Walter  F.  Wyman. 

Mailbag,  November,  1920,  page  267.  "Direct-Mail  Advertising 
in  Foreign  Trade,"  by  Edward  E.  Hill,  Export  Manager  Gray- 
lawn  Farms,  Inc.,  Stock  Remedies. 


CHAPTER  XXX 

HOW  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  HAS  BEEN  USED  EFFECTIVELY 
BY  PECULIAR  BUSINESSES  AND  FOR  THE  ACCOM- 
PLISHMENT OF  UNUSUAL  PURPOSES 

445.  Sampling  via  Uncle  Sam. — In  a  way,  sampling 
would  not  seem  to  serve  an  unusual  purpose,  but  an  exam- 
ination of  hundreds  of  campaigns  shows  that  it  is  not  used 
frequently.  In  Section  191  we  referred  to  the  policy  of  one 
direct-advertising  producer  on  this  point.  In  selling  tires 
and  tubes,  for  example,  he  included  a  small  cross  section  of 
an  inner  tube  as  a  "sample."  Other  sampling  methods  we 
have  already  referred  to  in  Section  261. 

Furniture  has  been  sampled  by  sending  small  panels  of 
veneer,  steel  office  equipment  by  sending  a  small  sample 
showing  how  well  the  steel  was  finished  with  paint  and 
varnish.  Printers'  Ink,  August  9,  1917,  page  123,  tells  how 
several  firms  in  the  "hard-to-sample"  field,  such  as  Peck 
&  Hills  Furniture  Company,  Berkey  &  Gay  Company,  Pen- 
rod  Walnut  &  Veneer  Company,  National  Fireproofing 
Company,  and  others  accomplish  this  purpose. 

Even  buildings  have  in  a  measure  been  "sampled"  by 
use  of  photographs.  Printers'  Ink,  eJanuary  9,  1919,  page 
25,  tells  how  the  Turner  Construction  Company  did  this. 
Crompton-Richmond  Company,  New  York,  has  worked  out 
a  plan  of  sampling  "men's  trousers,"  by  attaching  a  swatch 
of  cloth.  This  campaign  and  several  of  the  wall-board 
companies'  methods  of  sampling  have  been  described  in  an 
article  by  the  author  published  in  the  issue  of  Mailhag  for 
December,  1920. 

446.  Peculiar  Businesses  Which  Have  Effectively 
Used  Direct  Advertising. — "M3'  business  is  peculiar,"  was 
the  answer  Noah  gave  to  the  advertising  men  of  old  while 
he  was  building  the  ark — with  all  due  reverence  to  Biblical 

527 


528         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

history.  Every  business  man  admits  that  his  business  is 
peculiar.  The  business  of  advertising  is  to  take  the  pecu- 
liarity out  of  the  business  and  to  put  familiarity  in — ^not 
the  familiarity  which  breeds  contempt — but  the  kind 
which  breeds  business. 

The  following  are  just  a  few  of  the  "peculiar"  busi- 
nesses which  have  used  effectively  direct  advertising. 
Many  more  could  have  been  listed,  but  these  will  be  sug- 
gestive : 

(a)  Church  of  England:  "What  could  be  more  dignified 
than  the  Church  of  England?  Yet,  according  to  Thomas 
Russell  in  Printers*  Ink  for  January  23,  1919,  this  ec- 
clesiastical body  used  both  newspaper  advertising  and 
form  letters  to  raise  $25,000,000.  Its  letterhead  was  a 
four-page   folder  too !     The   appeal  read : 

You  cannot  be  unaware  that  the  Church  of  England  will 
do  less  than  its  duty  if  it  allows  National  Reconstruction 
to  go  on  without  playing  its  part,  if  the  million  new  houses 
required  for  the  resettlement  of  population  after  the  war  are 
not  supplied  with  churches,  if  church  schools  lag  behind  other 
schools,  if  the  thousands  of  clergy  lost  to  the  Church  by  the 
war  are  not  replaced,  and  if  the  social  work  which  it  ought  to 
undertake  is  neglected. 

You  can  help  to  save  it  from  such  danger  by  subscribing 
liberally  to  the  Central  Church  Fund — the  first  fund  for 
which  the  Church,  as  such,  has  ever  appealed.  You  can  help 
to  make  it  really  efficient.  You  can  help  to  make  it,  more 
than  ever  before,  the  National  Church.  Relying  upon  its 
members,  it  has  begun  the  task,  and  must  not  fail. 

By  generous  subscription  to  this  permanent  fund  you  will 
be  promoting  the  objects  named  overleaf.  No  words  are 
needed  to  emphasize  their  enormous  importance  to  the  Na- 
tion as  well  as  to  the  Church.  We  appeal  most  earnestly  for 
your  support. 

Yours  very  faithfully, 
Salisbury, 
Jellico, 
"W.  R.  Robertson,  General. 

(&)  Harvard:     Certainly  popular  opinion   places  Har- 


UNUSUAL  PURPOSES  529 

vard  in  the  forefront  of  conservatism,  yet  the  Harvard 
Endowment  fund  issued  a  24-page  book,  9  x  12  in  size,  as 
a  part  of  a  campaign  to  raise  a  fund  of  $15,250,000  for 
Harvard,  and  its  managers  used  for  their  ' '  list ' '  the  -35,000 
living  alumni. 

(c)  Other  Schools:  Many  other  schools,  if  not  all,  have 
used  some  form  of  direct  advertising  in  securing  students, 
and  not  long  ago  the  Mt.  Holyoke  College  for  girls  got  out 
a  *' stunt"  appeal  to  raise  money.  It  was  nearly  an  exact 
duplication  of  a  stock-  and  bond-selling  circular. 

Miss  Helen  Carter,  former  president  of  the  Chicago 
Advertising  Women's  Club,  in  speaking  before  the  Chi- 
cago Direct  Advertising  convention,  told  how  she  had,  by 
a  series  of  letters,  produced  increased  attendance  (more 
business)  of  young  men  at  a  Sunday-school  class. 

(d)  Barbers:  Ross  D.  Breniser  in  Advertising  & 
Selling,  May  24,  1919,  page  18,  recites  how  several  busi- 
nesses utilized  the  mail-selling  idea,  the  most  unusual  of 
which  was  a  barber  who  effectively  used  direct  advertising 
to  keep  old  trade  and  bring  in  new. 

(e)  Five-and-t en-cent  stores:  Many  of  us  are  prone 
to  believe  that  the  five-and-ten-cent  store  represents  the 
lowest  limit  of  service  and  salesmanship  without  the  neces- 
sity of  recourse  to  advertising.  During  the  current  year 
one  chain  started  advertising  in  a  general  publication, 
and  as  far  back  as  1915  S.  S.  Kresge  Company  issued  a 
catalogue  of  112  pages  which  was  sent  to  out-of-town  cus- 
tomers, according  to  the  Merchants'  Trade  Journal  of 
Topeka,  Kansas. 

(/)  Circus:  Even  Ringling  Brothers  and  Barnum  & 
Bailey  Combined  Shows  find  direct  advertising  helpful. 
One  of  their  important  pieces  of  promotion  literature  is 
an  advance  broadside,  14  x  21  inches  in  size,  consisting  of 
8  pages,  which  is  distributed  generally. 

(g)  Cremation:  Perhaps  the  most  unusual  is  the  use 
of  direct  advertising  to  sell  the  public  on  the  idea  of  cre- 
mating their  dead  rather  than  of  adopting  the  usual  form 
of  burial.     Roy  M.  Ross  told  the  story  of  this  campaign, 


530         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

which  was  conducted  largely  through  booklets,  at  the  Chi- 
cago Direct  Advertising  Convention. 

447.  Unusual  Accomplishments  by  Direct  Advertis- 
ing.— Firms  in  many  different  lines,  "peculiar"  and 
ordinary,  have  used  direct  advertising  at  times  for  the 
accomplishment  of  unusual  purposes: 

(a)  Selling  a  state  to  its  inhabitants:  Direct 
Advertising,  Vol.  VI,  No.  4,  page  30,  tells  how  the  State  of 
Maine  used  direct  advertising  to  sell  a  $12,000,000  cam- 
paign to  farmers  within  the  state.  This  campaign  won 
the  decision  at  the  polls. 

(&)  Selling  a  city  to  the  manufacturing  public: 
J.  M.  Davidson,  of  Winnipeg,  Canada,  at  the  New  Orleans 
convention  of  the  Associated  Advertising  Clubs  told  how 
a  series  of  folders,  the  first  of  which  was  twelve  pages, 
printed  in  two  colors,  entitled  "Winnipeg's  Water  Works 
— a  World's  Wonder,"  was  prepared  and  sent  to  a  list  of 
manufacturers.  Other  folders  were  devoted  to  the  water- 
power  of  Winnipeg  River,  "Markets  Available,"  "Trans- 
portation and  Sites,"  and  "Living  Conditions." 

(c)  Selling  a  city  to  its  school  children:  C.  B. 
McCuaig,  in  Printers'  Ink  ior  September  2,  1920,  gives 
the  details  of  how  the  City  of  Buffalo  was  sold  to  its  school 
children  through  a  series  of  booklets. 

(d)  Selling  Texas  steers  by  mail:  One  of  the 
speakers  at  the  San  Francisco  departmental  meeting  of 
the  Direct  Mail  Association  described  a  catalogue  which 
in  eight  years  had  built  up  an  annual  business  selling 
entirely  by  mail  $100,000  worth  of  cattle.  In  this  in- 
stance a  peculiar  method  of  getting  added  publicity  is  em- 
ployed :  A  copy  is  sent  to  ever^^  congressman  and  sen- 
ator at  Washington,  as  well  as  to  Y.  M.  C.  A.'s  and  sim- 
ilar organizations. 

(e)  Selling  attendance  at  a  convention:  R.  L. 
Jenne,  in  Mailhag  for  July,  1918,  on  page  80,  tells  how 
various  conventions  have  secured  a  large  representative 
attendance  by  the  use  of  folders,  letters,  and  other  direct 
advertising.     One  result  will  prove  the  value:     "Out  of 


UNUSUAL  PURPOSES  531 

a  possible  400  members,  the  attendance  for  the  previous 
year  had  been  28.  A  series  of  three  letters  and  a  folder, 
at  a  total  cost  of  $158,  brought  an  attendance  of  130,  and 
by  staging  a  special  drive  for  payment  of  dues  after  the 
convention  opened,  more  than  $400  was  collected  and  some 
150  tickets  were  sold  for  the  banquet  at  a  profit  of  50 
cents  each  to  the  organization." 

(/)  Capitalizing  a  famous  stunt:  Some  years  ago 
the  National  Biscuit  Company,  always  a  large  user  of 
direct  advertising,  sent  a  man  around  the  world  with  a 
box  of  Uneedas  as  a  ''stunt."  The  trip  was  purposed  to 
prove  that  despite  the  many  climatic  changes  the  biscuits 
would  be  as  good  upon  his  return  as  they  were  when  he 
set  out.  Following  his  return,  the  company  produced  a 
special  piece  of  direct  advertising  and  mailed  it  out  gen- 
erally to  capitalize  this  "stunt." 

(g)  Upbuilding  an  industry:  The  Earnshaw  Knitting 
Company  in  order  to  build  its  business  issues  an  elaborate 
house  organ,  ''The  Infant's  Department,"  which  aids  all 
manufacturers  of  infants'  wear.  Details  will  be  found  in 
Printers'  Ink,  May  8,  1919,  page  63. 

(h)  Finding  your  customers:  Oftentimes  a  manufac- 
turer does  not  know  who  is  the  final  user  of  his  products. 
This  was  the  case  with  the  Black  Cat  Textiles  Company  in 
1917.  It  succeeded  in  locating  80  per  cent  of  its  customers 
— formerly  sold  through  jobbers — in  one  campaign  of  let- 
ters and  folders,  described  by  H.  M.  Appel  in  Postage  for 
May,  1917,  page  207. 

That  this  may  be  carried  a  step  further  and  direct  ad- 
vertising actually  used  to  find  prospects  will  be  found  de- 
scribed in  Postage  for  January,  1916,  page  57.  There  were 
seven  letters  in  the  series  to  find  who  used  cotton  goods  and 
these  brought  55  replies,  35  of  whom  were  actual  users. 

Of  course,  as  a  rule,  publication  advertising  would  be 
the  better  way  to  locate  your  prospects. 

({)  Solving  labor  problems:  The  Thornes,  in  Mailhag 
for  September,  1920,  explain  how  the  Bradley  Knitting 
Company  of  Delevan,  Wis.,  by  a  6  x  9,  32-page  book  printed 


532         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

in  four  colors,  sold  its  city  and  factory  to  factory-workers. 
The  book  was  called  "More  Than  a  Living." 

Jerome  P.  Fleishman,  in  Advertising  &  Selling  for 
February  21,  1920,  explained  how  the  Needle  Trades  Asso- 
ciation of  Baltimore  with  a  booklet  helped  to  sell  the  idea 
of  working  in  a  factory, 

(i) Cooperative  direct  advertising:  The  latter  inci- 
dent cited  in  the  preceding  paragraph  is  one  of  a  coopera- 
tive campaign.  Another  example  is  the  cooperative  cam- 
paign of  the  Metal  Lath  Manufacturers,  written  up  by  the 
author  in  Mailhag  for  December,  1918,  page  210. 

(k)  Reaching  students:  Many  firms,  such  as  the 
Vacuum  Oil  Company,  for  example,  make  special  direct 
advertising  drives  among  college  students,  regardless  of 
sex.  The  names  of  other  users  of  this  form  of  appeal  will 
be  found  in  Printers'  Ink  for  December  30,  1915,  page  10. 

{I)  Selling  a  play  to  the  public  :  Earl  Carroll,  a  New 
York  playwright  and  producer,  during  the  Fall  of  1920 
produced  in  New  York  a  play  called  "The  Lady  of  the 
Lamp."  It  was  a  meritorious  production  but  the  public 
did  not  respond.  Finally,  in  desperation,  Mr.  Carroll  took 
his  last  $1000  and  inserted  an  advertisement  in  the  New 
York  newspapers.  This  advertisement  was  an  open  letter 
to  the  public  telling  them  the  situation  and  offering  to  re- 
fund at  the  box  office,  immediately  following  the  perform- 
ance, the  full  price  of  the  ticket  used  by  any  patron  who 
was  dissatisfied  in  any  way  with  the  play. 

The  interesting  thing  from  our  viewpoint  is  that  Mr. 
Carroll  realized  his  "last  $1000"  splurged  in  the  news- 
paper would  not  save  his  play  no  matter  how  closely  the 
newspapers  were  read.  He,  therefore,  just  before  the  cur- 
tain rose  for  the  last  act,  passed  to  everybody  in  the  house 
a  printed  postal  card,  ready  to  be  filled  in  and  signed,  rec- 
ommending, the  play  to  a  friend.  Attached  to  this  postal 
card  was  a  tag  reading:  "Kindly  address  this  card  to  your 
friends  and  return  it  to  the  usher,  who  will  mail  it  for 

you." 

Two  days  later  in  a  public  announcement  IMr.  Carroll 


UNUSUAL  PURPOSES  533 

thanked  the  public  for  "the  fine  big  audiences  these  two 
days  past,"  says  Printers'  Ink  for  November  11,  1920. 

(w)  Doing  what  salesmen  failed  to  do:  Prof.  Ed- 
ward Hall  Gardner,  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  author 
of  "Effective  Letters,"  told  an  interestig  story  at  the 
Detroit  Direct  Advertising  Convention.  It  is  an  example 
both  of  using  "treat  'em  rough"  copy,  and  accomplishing 
by  a  letter  what  salesmen  could  not  do. 

The  following  letter  was  sent  out  by  the  manufacturer  of 
a  line  of  merchandise  that  had  recently  been  subjected  to 
a  heavy  price  decline.  Every  one  in  the  industry  knew 
that  the  decline  was  coming,  and  as  is  always  the  case  in 
such  instances,  some  people  were  more  scared  than  hurt. 
That  was  why  the  merchants  to  whom  it  was  addressed  had 
not  bought  when  the  salesman  called.  Up  to  October,  1920, 
$200,000  worth  of  business  could  be  credited  to  this  letter : 

Doctors  agree  that  many  people  died  from  the  "flu" 
simply  because  they  feared  until  their  fear  was  actually 
transformed  into  a  reality.  For  the  same  reason  some  mer- 
chants will  probably  be  listed  on  a  business  casualty  list 
of  their  own  making.  There  is  no  logical  reason  to  fear 
business  conditions  now  or  any  other  time.  While  there  are 
circumstances  over  which  we  have  no  control,  there  are 
many  others  which  we  can  control.  In  most  cases  we  can 
make  our  own  circumstances. 

One  thing  is  certain.  This  is  no  time  nor  place  for  the 
coward  in  business;  the  man  of  courage  is  wanted;  the  man 
who  has  confidence  in  himself;  the  man  who  is  ready  to  go 
forward  in  the  face  of  obstacles. 

Now  is  the  psychological  time  to  campaign  while  the  other 
fellow  hesitates.  Reports  from  all  parts  of  the  country  show 
that  the  demand  for  merchandise  is  big  where  merchants  go 
after  the  business  in  the  right  way. 

We  have  some  valuable  ideas  on  this  subject  which  we 
would  like  to  talk  over  -with  you  in  person.  It  would  be 
well  worth  your  while  to  make  a  trip  to  Chicago.  Let  us 
know  whether  you  will  be  able  to  come  and  when. 

(n)  Selling  by  telegraph:  Edward  E.  Sullivan,  a 
Haverhill,  Mass.,  footwear  manufacturer,  sent  the  following 


534         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

night  letter  by  telegraph  to  250  shoe  dealers,  at  a  cost  of 
$160,  and  produced  orders  for  over  $15,000  worth  of  slip- 
pers— selling  expense  of  1  per  cent : 

Carrying  in  stock  ladies'  white  canvas  buckle  Colonials 
and  Kewpie  turn  pumps  one  dollar  fifteen  leather  lined 
heavy  edge  and  one  half  louis  wood  heel  and  spool  leather 
also  louis  wood  heel  dollar  fifty.  Do  you  want  ten  cases  of 
each?    Wire  your  order  our  expense  will  ship  express. 

Upon  another  occasion  Mr.  Sullivan  sent  out  48  tele- 
graphic appeals  at  a  cost  of  $21.60  and  produced  $4,230 
in  sales — selling  cost  of  i/o  of  1  per  cent. 

A  milling  company  sold  $37,000  worth  of  business  with 
30  night  letters  by  telegraph.  A  coal  company  sold  11  car- 
loads of  coal  (this  was  in  1916  when  coal  was  not  scarce) 
with  14  night  letters.  A  publishing  house  got  nearly  $800 
worth  of  business,  at  a  selling  cost  of  three  per  cent,  with 
80  night  letters.  An  olive  oil  company  at  a  cost  of  $30 
produced  $6000  worth  of  orders  by  telegraphic  appeals. 
These  are  just  examples  to  show  how  in  order  to  get  timeli- 
ness in  your  appeal  the  telegraph  may  be  the  proper  method 
of  distribution. 

(o)  The  most  unusual  use  of  all  :  The  most  unusual 
accomplishment  that  the  writer  ever  heard  of  was  that  of  the 
Todd  Protectograph  Company  in  1918,  which  published  the 
complete  proceedings  of  a  salesmen's  convention  which 
was  never  actually  held.  In  other  words,  while  to  all 
intents  and  appearances  the  Todd  forces  were  having  a 
three-day  convention  at  Rochester,  with  George.  W.  Lee, 
sales  manager,  and  Jack  W.  Speare,  advertising  manager, 
working  like  beavers,  the  first  intimation  of  the  meeting 
which  the  salesmen  had  was  when  they  received  a  copy  of 
the  "proceedings."  These  were  complete  in  every  detail — 
EVEN  TO  THE  BANQUET  PiCTiJRE.  Complete  details  will  be 
found  both  in  Postage  for  February,  1919,  page  39,  and 
Mailhag  for  March,  1919,  page  275,  as  well  as  in  an  issue 
of  Sales  Management  about  the  same  time.  This  was  a  war- 
time conservation  measure  that  stands  out  vividly  as  the. 
**most  unusual  use  of  direct  advertising  on  record." 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

HOW  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  HAS  BEEN  USED  EFFECTIVELY 
IN  APPEALING  TO  FARMERS 

448.  Experienced  Advertiser  Says  There  Are  Only  Two 
Methods  of  Reaching  the  Farmer.— George  B.  Sharpe,  of 
whom  it  has  been  said  that  no  advertising  man  is  better 
posted  in  ways  and  means  of  reaching  farmers,  now  as- 
sistant sales  manager  Cleveland  Tractor  Company,  formerly 
advertsiing  manager  De  Laval  Separator  Company,  presi- 
dent of  the  Advertising  Club  of  New  York,  in  addressing 
the  Cleveland  convention  of  the  Direct  Mail  Advertising 
Association  in  1919  said:  *'I  am  not  selling  direct  adver- 
tising— I  am  not  selling  any  kind  of  advertising.  I  am 
not  interested  in  one  sort  of  advertising  above  another. 
The  only  thing  I  am  interested  in  is  in  finding  what  sort 
of  salesmanship  I  can  use  that  will  give  me  the  most  re- 
sults per  dollar  I  spend,  so  that  I  haven't  any  ax  to  grind. 
We  have  two  kinds  of  advertising  to  reach  the  farmer — 
the  farm  paper  and  direct  advertising." 

Specifically  talking  on  the  subject  of  preparing  copy  for 
the  farmer,  Mr.  Sharpe  said:  "In  the  preparation  of 
printed  matter  for  the  farmer,  keep  in  mind  that  the  farmer 
does  not  have  an  office  boy  to  open  his  mail  and  lay  it  on 
his  desk.  Visualize  if  you  can  how  the  average  farmer 
gets  his  mail.  The  R.  F.  D.  man  pushes  it  into  the  little 
tin  box  on  the  side  of  the  road.  That's  one  reason  I  liave 
for  years  recommended  folders  not  over  four  inches  wide." 

449.  The  Farmer  Field  an  Enormous  Market. — There 
are  about  seven  million  farms  in  the  United  States  and  in 
all  about  35  per  cent  of  the  total  population  of  the  country 
is  located  on  farms.  The  problem,  therefore,  of  reaching 
in  excess  of  35,000,000  people  with  an  income  for  1920  of 
over  twenty-one  billions  of  dollars  is  a  big  one. 

535 


536        EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Many  experienced  merchandisers,  while  not  belittling 
the  export  field,  believe  that  a  great  many  manufacturers 
with  the  right  campaign  can  dispose  of  much  of  their  sur- 
plus in  the  farm  field. 

This  taken  in  connection  with  the  unmistakable  "back- 
to-the-land  movement"  now  going  on  in  the  United  States 
makes  it  desirable  for  direct  advertisers  to  give  careful  con- 
sideration to  the  farm  field. 

450.  How  Hart,  Schaffner  &  Marx  Appeal  to  Farmers. 
— The  problem  of  writing  copy  to  appeal  to  farmers  is  a 
big  one  and  it  is  an  open  question  which  school  has  the 
better  of  the  argument.  One  class  of  advertisers  would 
have  you  believe  that  the  farmer  is  still  a  "hick"  and  a 
"rube" — the  typical  "stage"  farmer,  if  you  please,  with  a 
handful  of  whiskers  and  a  mouthful  of  "By  heck  and 
b'gosh!"  The  other  class  would  make  you  feel  certain 
that  most  farming  operations  are  carried  on  in  these  days 
by  a  farmer  and  his  help  who  are  clad  in  the  latest  New 
York  st.yle  dinner  suits  and  high  hats. 

There  lies  before  me,  for  example,  a  good  advertising 
book,  one  of  the  best,  and  there  is  a  direct  statement  therein 
to  the  effect  that  farmers  are  not  swayed  by  things  of 
beauty.  Next  to  it  is  a  bona  fide  confession  of  a  bona  fide 
farmer  in  which  he  tells  why  he  bought  certain  things  and 
why  he  did  not  buy  certain  other  things.  He  praises  a 
cover  design  for  one  of  Friend  Sharpe's  catalogues,  stat- 
ing frankly  that  he  hasn't  any  idea  how  it  was  printed 
but  it  is  a  real  farm  scene.  It  so  happens  that  it  is  a  beau- 
tiful piece  of  offset  printing.  And  in  liis  next  sentence 
this  farmer  says:  "We  farmers  do  appreciate  beau- 
tiful things." 

It  will  be  interesting,  therefore,  to  read  how  Hart, 
Schaffner  &  Marx,  makers  of  men's  clothing,  famous  for 
hitting  the  right  copy  appeal  for  individual  classes,  appeal 
to  the  farmer.  They  have  used  the  following  letter  ef- 
fectively : 

Dear  Sib: 

You  want  the  kind  of  clothes  that  don't  cost  a  barrel  of 


IN  APPEALING  TO  FARMERS  537 

money,  the  kind  that  wear  well  and  give  you  a  decent  appear- 
ance when  you  are  in  town  or  at  church,  or  at  the  fair. 

We  recommend  Hart,  Schaffner  &  Marx  clothes  to  you 
because  this  concern  makes  suits  in  dressy  worsted  cloths  at 
$18,  $20,  $25,  and  $30  that  give  you  your  money's  worth. 

You  will  find  here  gobd,  warm,  sensible  overcoats  at  $16.50. 
We  also  have  shirts,  ties,  sox,  underwear,  everything  for  fall 
and  winter. 

You  can  have  your  money  back  if  you  are  not  satisfied  with 
anything  you  purchase.  We  make  no  extravagant  claims. 
We  prefer  to  let  the  goods  speak  for  themselves. 

This  letter,  of  course,  goes  out  over  the  signature  of  the 
local  Hart,  Schaffner  &  Marx  dealer. 

451.  An  Effective  Single  Letter  Appeal. — The  author 
of  this  book  spent  nearly  eight  years  in  the  farm  field  and 
therefore  feels  rather  strongly  on  certain  things  in  connec- 
tion with  that  field.  One  thing  you  cannot  do  is  to  "bunk" 
the  farmer.  You  can  "kid"  New  York's  oldest  inhabitants, 
those  to  whom  the  Hudson  River  is  the  end  of  the  world, 
westward.  You  can  write  your  "personal"  letters  to  the 
city  man  and  he  believes  them,  but  the  farmer  takes  all 
that  you  say  with  a  grain  of  salt.  "I've  heard  talk  like 
that  before,  young  feller,"  has  damned  many  a  written  and 
verbal  flow  of  literary  elegance,  long  on  words  but  short 
on  wisdom. 

Here  is  a  letter  that  was  sent  to  a  list  of  2000  farmers; 
it  brought  234  replies,  and  it  produced  $5790.02  worth  of 
traceable  business.  Each  letter  was  accompanied  by  a  type- 
written indorsement  from  some  other  farmer,  located  as 
nearby  geographically  as  we  could  find.  In  the  author's 
opinion  (and  he  wrote  the  following  letter)  this  indorse- 
ment was  the  straw  that  broke  the  camel's  back  of  resist- 
ance and  brought  home  the  business: 

Dear  Sir: 

You  naturally  want  to  get  just  as  good  Fertilizers  for  your 
own  farm  as  you  can  with  as  little  expense  as  possible. 

We  believe  that  there  are  no  better  Fertilizers  on  the 
Southern   market   than   Royster's.     We   have   been   making 


538         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

them  for  almost  30  years  and  thousands  of  satisfied  users 
tell  us  that  they  are  good.  Read'on  sheet  attached  what  just 
one  of  the  Georgia  users  says. 

Perhaps  you  have  been  using  Royster's;  if  not,  we  want 
to  show  you  why  it  is  to  your  interest  to  do  so,  and  to 
arrange  to  supply  you  direct,  unlesS  it  can  be  arranged  to 
supply  you  more  advantageously  in  some  other  way. 

So  that  we  may  give  your  actual  needs  intelligent  and 
careful  thought  it  will  be  necessary  to  ask  you  to  fill  out  the 
paragraph  that  suits  your  case — owner  or  renter,  or  both — 
and  return  the  attached  postal  card.  Sending  this  informa- 
tion will  not  obligate  you  in  any  way  to  buy  Royster  goods, 
but  3'ou  will,  we  honestly  believe,  want  to  buy  them  when  we 
show  you  it  will  pay  you  to  do  so. 

Please  note  particularly  whether  or  not  we  have  your  name 
spelled  eori'ectly,  and  the  initials  right,  also  whether  or  not 
the  post-oflSee  address  is  the  right  one  and  on  what  Rural 
Free  Delivery  route  you  live.  Also  that  we  may  figure  on 
correct  freight  rate,  please  give  the  point  on  the  railroad  at 
which  you  would  want  your  fertilizers  delivered. 

Yours  for  increased  crops  at  a  less  exi:)ense  to  you. 

The  letter  just  quoted,  you  will  note,  coincides  in  the 
main  with  the  Hart,  Schaffner  &  Marx  letter  printed  in 
the  preceding  section,  yet  the  author  never  read  the  latter 's 
until  a  few  moments  ago,  while  the  letter  to  the  farmers 
of  Georgia  was  written  more  than  seven  years  ago ! 

The  letter  to  the  Georgia  farmers  had  a  double  duty  to 
perform.  Farmers  hate  the  credit  man.  They  usually 
resent  his  looking  into  their  credit  at  all.  Note  how  we  in- 
terwove a  request  for  credit  information  while  seeming  to 
ask  it  only  for  the  farmer's  benefit.  We  knew  we  had  the 
correct  name  and  initials,  but  a  signed  statement  that  they 
were  correct,  accompanied  by  a  statement  that  he  was  a 
landowner  or  a  renter,  clinched  the  matter  legally.  When 
the  answer  came  from  a  renter  he  was  told  that  we  would 
require  the  indorsement  of  the  owner,  in  the  case  of  his 
[the  renter's]   purchase. 

There  was  no  follow-up  in  this  case,  though  as  a  rule 
farmers  are  slow  to  deliberate  and  a  long  and  strong  follow- 
up  is  usually  desirable. 


IN  APPEALING  TO  FARMERS  539 

452.  Why  One  Farmer  Bought  and  Why  He  Did  Not. 
— Postage  for  September  and  October,  1916,  had  an  article 
written  by  B.  Effem,  a  bona  fide  farmer,  telling  actually 
why  he  bought  some  products  and  why  he  had  not  bought 
others.  Confirming  the  statements  made  in  Section  453, 
read  this  from  Mr.  Effem,  reproduced  word  for  word  as  he 
wrote  it : 

"President  H.  C.  P of  the  O Carriage  Manu- 
facturing Company,  C Ohio,  is  perhaps  an  honorable 

and  truthful  executive.  Just  the  same,  there  was  a  time 
when  every  mention  of  buggies  would  come  close  to  making 

me  thump  the  table  and  call  P a  blankety-blank  liar. 

Also,  I  've  not  bought  a  buggy,  as  originally  intended,  but  a 
little  gasoline  roadster  and  P is  the  cause." 

The  cause  of  Mr.  Effem 's  ire  was  a  five-page  single-space 
form  letter  which  read  in  part  as  follows : 

Your  name  is  one  of  a  list  of  twenty  I  selected  from  the 
thousands  who  wrote  for  our  new  catalogue.  .  .  . 

Several  days  ago  I  wrote  you  a  personal  letter  and  not 
having  received  a  reply  up  to  this  time  I  feel  disappointed, 
and  am  wondering  if  my  letter  ever  reached  you. 

In  making  this  offer,  you  may  wonder  why  I  have  picked 
you  from  the  hundreds  of  persons  sending  for  my  cata- 
logue. ... 

The  letter  was  filled  in  and  signed  with  a  rubber  stamp. 
"See  the  italics?"  says  Mr.  Effem,  "I  could  quote  more 

from  the  five  pages,  but  these  are  ample.     Mr.  P did 

NOT  write  me  a  personal  letter.  He  tried  to  make  his  form 
letter  sound  personal." 

When  it  came  to  buying  an  incubator,  Mr.  Effem  admits 
that  he  would  have  bought  an  "X-Ray"  but  Mrs.  Effem 
liked  the*catalogue  of  the  "Old  Trusty"  better;  she  said  it 
was  more  "serviceable."  Which  emphasizes  a  point  Mr. 
Sharpe  made  at  Cleveland  (see  Section  448)  that  the  woman 
on  the  farm  is  a  mighty  factor  in  selling  the  farmer.  The 
DeLaval  Company  used  one  piece  in  each  campaign  de- 
signed just  to  sell  the  woman. 

Mr,  Effem  admits  he  bought  a  DeLaval  separator  be- 


540         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

cause  he  liked  the  cover  of  the  catalogue,  and  naming  an- 
other company  said  it  ''wished  itself  out  of  the  reckoning 
because  of  what  looked  like  dead-rot  in  its  catalogue. 
There  were  full  pages  devoted  to  photographic  reproduction 
of  a  diploma  won  at  the  Paris  Exposition  of  1900." 

Those  interested  in  the  details  of  the  Old  Trusty  adver- 
tising will  find  them  on  page  69  of  Printers'  Ink  for  June 
18,  1914,  and  details  of  the  DeLaval  campaign  on  page  3 
of  the  issue  of  the  same  publication  for  August  5,  1915. 

453.  Additional  References  on  Selling  Farm  Field. — 
Postage  for  August,  1917,  page  41,  contains  the  story  of  a 
threshing-machine  campaign ;  and  in  the  issue  for  February, 
1919,  a  story  of  what  direct  advertising  has  done  for  the 
farm,  illustrating  booklets  of  Gordon-Van  Tine,  American 
Radiator  Company,  Western  Electric,  and  others. 

In  Mailhag  for  December,  1920,  page  274,  Louis  Victor 
Eytinge  describes  at  length  the  seed  catalogue  of  Stokes 
Seed  Farms  Company  (illustrated). 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

HOW  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  HAS  BEEN  USED  EFFECTIVELY 
IN  APPEALING  TO  PROFESSIONAL  MEN  AND  WOMEN 

454.  Two  Classes  of  Men  Who  Influence  Purchases. 
— The  late  Robert  W.  Sullivan,  formerly  with  Lowe  Broth- 
ers Company  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  with  Wilson  & 
Company,  Chicago,  aptly  brought  out  the  fact  in  his  speech 
before  the  1918  Chicago  convention  that  there  were  two 
general  classes  of  men  who  influenced  purchases  even 
though  they  themselves  did  not  always  originate  or  pur- 
chase. He  referred  to  these  two  classes  as  practical 
and  PROFESSIONAL.  The  practical  class  consists  of  such  men 
as  master  mechanics,  superintendents,  foremen,  depart- 
ment heads,  and  similar  "men  between."  The  professional 
class,  consists  of  architects,  doctors,  dentists,  lawyers,  con- 
sulting engineers,  and  the  like. 

Since  these  men  stand  between  the  point  of  need  and 
point  of  ordering  in  many  cases,  then  to  get  their  ex- 
pressed or  implied  recommendation  is  vital. 

455.  How  to  Get  the  Recommendation  of  Professional 
Men. — In  many  cases  the  "favorable  opinion"  of  the  pro- 
fessional man  is  practically  an  indorsement  and  in  the  se- 
curing of  either  direct  advertising  can  be  of  inestimable 
value.  It  is  a  long,  hard  row  from  the  inception  of  a  new 
product  to  the  securing  of  professional  indorsement.  The 
professional  man  has  his  standing  as  a  result  of  years  of 
hard  study.  He  is  familiar  with  the  textbooks  and  old  au- 
thorities, he  has  adopted  certain  standards,  he  has  fixed 
ways  of  doing  things.  He  is  averse,  as  a  rule,  to  recom- 
mending, directly  or  indirectly,  anything  which  is  new  or 
unknown  to  him.  In  a  measure  he  is  taking  his  reputation 
in  his  own  hands  when  he  recommends  any  new  service  or 

541 


542         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

product,  and  he  is  acting  properly  when  he  proceeds  cau- 
tiously. 

The  campaign  to  reach  the  professional  class  must  be 
planned  out  thoroughly,  and  unless  you  are  prepared  for  a 
long  campaign  do  not  start.  As  the  late  Mr.  Sullivan  put 
it,  after  years  of  experience  in  reaching  the  professional 
man  :  "You  must  not  go  into  your  campaign  with  a  feeling 
that  you  are  going  to  convince  him  with  one  mailing  or 
one  broadside.  You  have  got  to  keep  everlastingly  at  it, 
over  and  over  again  telling  your  story,  telling  it  in  a  way 
that  will  give  him  facts.  Bunk,  hot  air,  and  all  that  sort 
of  thing  may  appeal  to  some  classes  of  people,  but  not  to 
the  professional  man.  You  must  give  him  facts  and  render 
him  a  service."  He  also  emphasized  the  need  of  samples 
in  appealing  to  professional  people. 

456.  An  Effective  Campaign  to  Semiprofessional 
Classes. — The  Detroit  Steel  Products  Company  manufac- 
ture a  window  which  maj^  be  used  as  part  of  a  wall,  or, 
as  they  term  it,  a  "window-wall."  It  is  trade-marked 
as  "Fenestra."  The  manufacturers  wished  to  sell  this 
idea  of  a  "window-wall"  not  only  to  architects  but  also 
to  the  engineers,  contractors,  and  manufacturers  of  the 
country.  Clifford  T.  Warner  tells  the  story  of  how  they 
did  it  in  the  issue  of  Mailbag  for  June,  1920. 

Briefly,  the  campaign  consisted  of  six  pieces  designed  to 
"sell"  a  32-page  booklet,  "Window  Walls— Their  Cost  and 
Their  Advantages."  The  six  pieces  included  a  blotter,  an 
imitation  "telegram,"  three  mailing  cards,  and  two  fold- 
ers with  detachable  return  cards.  The  blotter  sent  to  15,- 
000  names  brought  600  inquiries  for  the  book ;  i.  e.,  4  per 
cent  returns.  It  was  a  No.  10  inclosure-blotter,  with  a  re- 
production of  the  book  on  the  left  side  and  the  headline : 
"This  Book  AVill  Save  you  Money."  Under  this  there  were 
a  small  amount  of  copy  and  the  firm  name  and  address. 

The  second  piece  was  an  imitation  telegram  called 
"Fenestragrara."  It  repeated  the  same  offer  in  "tele- 
graph" style,  bringing  850  inquiries,  or  nearly  6  per  cent 
returns. 


APPEALING  TO  PROFESSIONAL  MEN       543 

Supplementing  this  main  mailing  a  letter  was  sent  to 
200  college  professors,  explaining  the  value  of  the  book  as 
a  textbook  on  wall  construction  and  inclosing  a  return 
card  for  their  use.  This  letter  brought  orders  for  3000 
books  from  65  per  cent  of  the  professors  located  in  85 
universities  and  a  follow-up  letter  brought  the  figure  up 
to  90  per  cent. 

457.  Direct  Advertising  That  is  Effective  in  Reaching 
the  Architect. — It  is  almost  impossible  to  follow  the  style 
laid  down  in  the  preceding  chapters  of  this  part  and  tell 
you  exactly  what  results  were  secured  from  any  direct-ad- 
vertising campaign  to  architects,  because  the  architect  is 
employed  by  some  one  other  than  the  manufacturer  who 
mails  the  direct  advertising.  When  you  wish  to  build  a 
house  or  a  factory  or  an  office  building,  you  employ  an 
architect.  He  ** specifies"  the  materials  from  which  that 
building  is  to  be  erected  and  there  is  little  chance  for  the 
advertiser  to  check  back  and  see  what  piece  produced  any 
certain  results. 

It  was  the  writer's  good  fortune  at  one  time  to  direct  the 
advertising  for  a  firm  doing  a  large  volume  of  business 
through  the  architect.  Every  other  week  was  issued  a  No. 
10  blotter-size  house  organ  called  "Interior  Construction 
News."  It  was  sent  to  4,000  leading  architects  and,  as 
one  of  America's  leading  architects  wrote  the  company: 
"I  think  this  is  a  very  good  method  of  keeping  your  name 
before  the  architects."  Details  of  this  campaign  will  be 
found  in  Postage  for  February,  1916,  page  38. 

Richard  11.  Millson,  of  Thayer  &  Millson,  architects, 
Boston,  wrote  two  different  articles  for  Printers'  Ink  on 
this  subject.  The  first  one  appeared  in  1he  issue  for  ^lay 
15,  1913,  and  the  second  in  the  issue  for  December  2,  1915. 

Mr.  Millson  emphasized  several  facts:  (1)  Over-eager- 
ness was  fatal.  (2)  Don't  peremptorily  demand  that  an 
architect  "Specify  Soandso's  Spiral  Steel."  (3)  Make 
your  direct  advertising,  particularly  your  booklets,  full  of 
serviceable  ideas,  drawings,  illustrations,  etc.  (4)  Show 
how   your   product    or   service    maj^    be    used    with    other 


544         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

building  materials.  (5)  He  specifically  stated:  ''Mod- 
els and  samples  impress  me  as  being  really  one  of  the  best 
methods  of  direct  advertising  which  exists  and  which,  un- 
fortunately, is  not  common  enough."  (6)  He  praised 
house  organs  which  gave  facts  about  the  business  and  its 
product,  but  deprecated  the  use  of  the  non-business  type  of 
publications.  (7)  Use  artistic  printing  to  appeal  to  the 
arcjiitect.     (8)  Give  definite  dimensions  and  other  figures. 

In  his  second  article  Mr.  Millson  made  the  point  that 
the  architect  is  an  artist  but  a  practical  artist. 

458.  How  Humor  Has  Been  Used  to  Appeal  Effectively 
to  the  Architect, — From  the  preceding  section  one  might 
infer  that  the  architect  is  a  creature  whose  only  desire  is 
to  see  the  illustration  of  a  beautiful  building  bearing  under 
it  "John  Doe,  Architect."  (This  subtle  form  of  "adver- 
tising" is  to  be  recommended  always  in  dealing  with  archi- 
tects. Wherever  you  run  a  picture  of  a  building,  or  the 
like,  be  sure  to  add  the  architect's  credit  line  if  you  expect 
to  mail  that  piece  to  architects.) 

Withal,  the  architect  is  human.  On  the  blotter  house 
organ  referred  to  in  Section  457,  we  ran  good-natured 
cartoons,  some  of  which  even  poked  fun  at  the  architect. 

Calkins  &  Holden,  New  York  advertising  agents,  put 
over  a  complete  series  of  humorous  appeals  via  direct  adver- 
tising on  behalf  of  the  New  Jersey  Zinc  Company.  Fig. 
131  represents  the  complete  series.  Each  mailing  piece 
was  laid  out  in  a  different  way,  on  a  different  sized  sheet, 
in  order  to  relieve  the  monotony  of  the  series.  They  all 
folded  to  fit  in  an  8x5  envelope.  See  the  lower  illustra- 
tions of  the  center  column  of  Fig.  131.  These  mailing 
pieces  were  printed  on  antique  stock,  with  a  deckle  edge. 
H.  G.  Clopper,  general  sales  manager  of  the  company,  in 
commenting  on  the  series  in  Printers'  Ink  (November  18, 
1915),  said:  "They  have  had  a  really  astonishing  recep- 
tion from  the  architects.  The  paper  stock,  it  should  be 
added,  was  of  the  best  and  both  envelopes  and  inclosures 
were  calculated  to  enlist  the  naturally  fastidious  interest 
of  the  profession." 


Fi<T.  131. — A  series  of  non-serious  appeals  to  architects  whicli 
Lla/.ed  new  pathways  in  direct  advertising.  See  text  for  details 
of  this  unusual  campaign. 


--- -^2^15  fee 


Fig.  132. — Here  we  have  a  group  of  excellent  "persoiiali/ed"  ap- 
peals to  soil  men  and  women  separately  and  collectively.  A.  An 
example  of  a  dealer's  lettei-liead  nsod  to  sell  a  manufacturer's  var- 
nish. 15.  One  of  the  TTart.  ScliafTner  &  ^larx  "personalized"'  style 
Jiooks.  '"^Ir  Fied  IJ  Stark"'  is  chan.iicd  to  name  of  addressee  of 
each  individual  booklet!  C.  As  showinsi'  how  the  Aladdin  Homes 
personalize  their  catalogue,  the  name  "t!.  E.  Ramsay"  is  Avrilten 
on  the  hook  in  gold  ink  I  T).  One  of  a  series  of  peisonalized  a]i- 
peals  io  women  in  an  elTort  to  sell  them  a  motor  car  for  their  indi- 
vidual use.  The  name  of  each  woman  to  whom  this  booklet  is  sent 
is  printed  on  the  cover. 


APPEALING  TO  PROFESSIONAL  MEN       545 

459.  Additional  References  of  Appeals  to  Architects. 
— A  considerable  portion  of  this  chapter  has  been  devoted 
to  architects  since  they  control  such  a  large  volume  of 
business.  There  are  in  all  nearly  12,000  architects  in  the 
country;  therefore,  to  reach  them,  direct  advertising  is 
highly  fitting.  Those  wishing  further  references  on  the 
subject  will  find  the  following  of  help : 

Postage,  November,  1916,  page  274.  How  the  Penn  Metal 
Company  appeals  to  architects  with  letters  and  booklets. 

Printers'  Ink,  June  18,  1914,  page  8.  Part  direct  advertising 
plays  in  Kewanee  boiler  campaign.  Mr.  Collette,  who  wrote  this 
article,  points  out  that  you  must  not  expect  a  large  volume  of 
inquiries  from  direct  advertising  to  the  architect. 

Printers'  Ink,  September  24,  1914,  page  49,  "An  Architect" 
tells  what  kind  of  literature  (direct  advertising)  gets  a  reading. 

The  experience  of  the  Ludowici  Celadon  Company,  Chi- 
cago, should  be  mentioned  for  it  serves  to  point  out  how 
direct  advertising  can  be  used  to  supplement  other  ef- 
forts: "Our  work  lies  almost  wholly  with  architects," 
they  write.  "Therefore  in  addition  to  our  catalogue  we 
send  them  reminders  of  our  business  in  the  form  of  serv- 
iceable articles  for  their  use,  such  as  pencil  sharpeners, 
small  rules,  etc.,  having  our  company's  imprint  and  busi- 
ness." By  use  of  direct  advertising  these  novelties  per  se 
can  be  made  more  desirable  and  become  stronger  selling 
arguments, 

460.  Effective  Appeals  to  Technical  Men. — By  "tech- 
nical men"  we  mean  engineers  of  all  types  and  others  who 
purchase  or  direct  the  purchase  of  "technical"  products. 
The  appeal  to  them  must  be  much  the  same  as  the  appeal 
to  architects.  R.  Bigelow  Lockwood,  a  specialist  in  this 
field,  in  Printers'  Ink  Monthly  for  December,  1919,  laid 
down  these  eight  points  to  remember  in  building  a  tech- 
nical catalogue : 

1.  The  prospective  customer  should  be  sohl  while  he  is  being 

instructed. 

2.  The  paper  stock  must  bear  much  handling  and  the  colors 

much  smudging. 


546         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

3.  The  appearance  should  be  in  keeping  with  the  product 

described. 

4.  Technical  men  want  to  see  a  machine  as  it  looks  when  set 

up. 

5.  The  aim  of  the  author  should  be  to  get  it  on  the  reference 

shelf. 
.    6.  Catalogue  rules  may  be  violated  if  your  experience  de- 
mands it. 

7.  A  book  may  be  sold  if  it  contains  the  right  kind  of  in- 

formation. 

8.  Correct  and  plentiful  data  will  bring  about  the  right  dis- 

tribution. 

In  Mailbag  for  May,  1920,  page  33,  Lister  R.  Alwood 
has  an  extremely  interesting  article  describing  how  by 
translating  engineer's  Greek  into  layman's  English  a  worm 
drive  was  sold  for  motor  trucks.  Booklets  used  in  the 
campaign  were  enticingly  entitled:  ''This  Early  Bird 
Got  the  Worm,"  "Two  Works  of  Fame  from  a  Single 
Name,"  and  "Across  the  Road  from  Success." 

461.  Pulling  Business  from  Dentists. — By  a  carefully 
coordinated  trade-paper  and  direct-advertising  campaign 
the  Lee  S.  Smith  &  Son  Manufacturing  Company,  of  Pitts- 
burgh, obtained  a  volume  of  business  within  six  weeks 
that  it  had  not  expected  to  secure  for  six  months,  at 
least.  The  main  piece  of  this  campaign,  after  the  samples, 
of  course  (which  were  sent  by  mail),  was  a  book  entitled 
"The  General  Manager's  Story."  In  eleven  chapters,  32 
pages  and  cover,  size  6x8  inches,  the  book  was  done  in  two 
colors  throughout  in  the  true  "Roycroft"  style  of  Elbert 
Hubbard.  Complete  details  of  this  campaign  will  be 
found  on  page  195  of  Mailbag  for  December,  1918. 

The  entire  field  of  technical  advertising  has  been  ad- 
mirably covered  in  a  book  published  since  "Effective  Di- 
rect Advertising"  was  planned  and  largely  written.  We 
refer  to  "Advertising  a  Technical  Product"  by  Sloan  and 
Mooney.  Any  one  interested  particularly  in  this  field 
should  get  a  copy.  The  following  brief  quotations  will 
show  what  they  think  of  two  different  classes  of  direct  ad- 
vertising as  methods  of  appealing  to  technical  men. 


APPEALING  TO  PROFESSIONAL  MEN       547 

They  recommend  the  bulletin  form  as  being  good  (see 
Section  53)  with  these  specific  recommendations:  "The 
bulletin  should  be  well  illustrated  by  photographs,  charts, 
curves,  or  tables  and  should  be  given  an  attractive  physical 
appearance  by  use  of  good  paper,  good  typography,  good 
printing.  The  copy  should  be  edited  to  make  it  read 
clearly  and  smoothly;  it  should  be  in  dignified  engineering 
language,  without  any  of  the  conventional  advertising 
'snap.'  It  is  very  common  in  practice  to  give  enough  in- 
formation on  the  product  itself,  sizes,  weights,  strengths, 
prices,  etc.,  to  make  it  possible  for  the  user  in  the  field  for 
which  the  bulletin  is  written  to  order  directly  from  the 
bulletin.  In  this  case,  the  publication  is  a  bulletin  plus  a 
catalogue  section." 

Messrs.  Sloan  and  Mooney  also  emphasize  the  desirability 
of  using  the  portfolio  or  prospectus  to  reach  technical  men. 
They  say  the  best  size  is  8^/^  x  11  inches,  adding,  "The  aver- 
age engineer  likes  to  use  this  size  paper  for  all  of  his  data." 

A  similar  campaign  was  that  of  the  L.  D.  Caulk  Com- 
pany, iMilford,  Delaware,  as  described  by  George  B.  Hyn- 
son  in  an  address  })efore  the  Poor  Richard  Club  of  Phila- 
delphia. The  dentists  had  protested  at  the  manufacturers' 
advertising  direct  to  the  buyer  in  general  publications  and 
a  broadside  sent  to  every  dentist  in  the  United  States  and 
Canada  was  the  first  step  toward  winning  back  the  favor 
of  the  professional  men.  This  firm  now  publishes  a 
house  organ  to  keep  good  will  alive. 

462.  Follow-up  Brings  Business  from  Doctors. — Of 
all  the  professional  men,  unless  it  be  the  lawyers  who,  as  a 
class,  are  notoriously  lax  in  their  office  methods,  the  doctor 
is  the  most  deliberate.  William  C.  Trewin,  in  Postage  for 
May,  1918,  tells  how  the  Physicians'  Specialty  Company  of 
Leesburg,  Virginia,  started  off  with  three  inquiry-bringing 
letters  and  a  modest  32-page  catalogue.  These  were  fol- 
lowed up  by  a  series  of  12  letters. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 

HOW  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  HAS  BEEN  USED  EFFECTIVELY 
IN  APPEALING  "PERSONALLY"  TO  MEN 

463.  Men  Buy  But  Few  Personal  Things. — At  the  out- 
set it  must  be  stated  that  men  buy  comparatively  few  of 
their  personal  needs.  Hollingworth  in  Advertising  cO 
Sell'ng  makes  this  statement,  for  example:  "The  only 
article  of  clothing  bought  by  men  exclusively  is  their  own 
collars.  Only  80  per  cent  buy  their  own  shoes  and  hats. 
In  over  50  per  cent  of  the  cases  the  men's  jewelry,  hand- 
kerchiefs, and  underwear  are  purchased  either  by  the 
women  alone  or  in  consultation  with  them.  In  one-third 
of  the  cases  the  women  help  to  buy  the  men 's  shirts.  Only 
one-third  of  the  men  buy  their  own  handkerchiefs. ' '  Com- 
pare* this  with  Section  471. 

This  chapter,  therefore,  will  be  confined  to  telling  what 
has  been  done  in  appealing  personally  to  men  in  the  sale  of 
clothing,  sporting  goods,  etc. 

464.  How  Marshall  Field  &  Company  Appeal  to  Men. 
— In  the  forefront  of  the  firms  appealing  to  men,  especially 
men  of  the  higher  type,  stand  Marshall  Field  &  Company, 
the  Chicago  merchants.  Back  in  1918  they  began  their 
direct-advertising  attack  upon  the  men  of  Chicago  and 
vicinity  for  their  furnishings  business.  Their  first  piece 
was  a  large  book,  "The  Store  for  Men,"  the  specifications 
of  which  were  11  x  15  inches,  with  a  special  color  cover 
stock  and  good  weight  of  body  stock.  In  all,  100,000  books 
were  printed  at  a  cost  of  about  $25,000. 

The  book  was  made  up  with  fine  pen-and-ink  drawings 
on  the  left-hand  pages,  with  text,  all  in  24-point  Caslon,  on 
the  right-hand  pages.  Thus  two  facing  pages  featuring 
hats :     On  the  left  a  hand-drawn  picture  of  a  hat  and  cane 

548 


IN  APPEALING  ''PERSONALLY"  TO  MEN      549 

lying  on  a  table  with  the  suggestion  of  a  staircase  in  the 
background.  On  the  right,  heavily  displayed  with  rules 
above  and  below,  we  see :  ''HATS,"  Under  this,  starting 
with  a  heavy  initial,  we  read  these  opening  sentences : 

Very  few  men  have  any  proper  idea  of  the  number  and 
variety  of  processes  that  are  required  to  make  a  hat.  And 
yet  every  process  affords  opportunity  for  variation  in  quality 
of  the  finished  product.  Men  in  general — even  those  who 
require  the  superlative  in  suits  and  shirts  and  shoes — are 
inclined  to  accept  a  hat  that  any  one  might  choose. 

Coincident  with  the  delivery  of  the  book,  which  was  done 
through  the  Field  delivery  service,  full  pages  appeared  in 
the  newspapers  featuring  "The  Store  for  Men." 

That  this  book  was  a  success  may  be  judged  from  the 
fact  that  in  1920  Marshall  Field  &  Company  brought  out 
another  big  book  for  men,  this  one  entitled:  "Man  and 
His  Wardrobe,"  of  a  size  91/4x121/^  inches,  with  the  same 
high  quality  of  cover,  binding,  end-sheets,  and  other  quality 
appeals  of  the  first  book. 

Complete  details  (illustrated)  with  regard  to  the  first 
book  will  be  found  in  Mailhag  for  July,  1918,  page  73, 
from  the  pen  of  William  H.  Herring,  and  of  the  latter 
(also  illustrated)  from  the  pen  of  Hugh  E.  Agnew,  in 
Printers'  Ink  Monthly,  September,  1920,  page  19. 

It  is  extremely  interesting  to  note  how  success  in  a  like 
experience  is  confirmed  by  W.  R.  Hotchkin,  for  ten  years 
advertising  manager  of  John  Wanamaker's  New  York  store, 
who,   in  "Making  More   Money  in   Storekeeping,"  says: 

' '  There  are  two  ways  to  go  after  the  men  directly : 

1.  By  newspaper  advertising— the  best  and  quickest  way,  if 

it  is  done  with  good  judgment. 

2.  By  means  of  letters  or  printed  matter. 

"In  advertising  to  men,"  he  continues,  "it  must  be  re- 
membered that  men  will  not  read  anything  that  lacks  good 
sense  or  looks  unreasonable.  Men  won 't  read  '  conventional 
chatter,'  " 


550         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

465.  Using  Current  Events  in  Selling  Men  Clothes  by 
Direct  Advertising. — Duke  Murta,  then  advertising  man- 
ager in  an  Oklahoma  City  clothing  house,  told  an  interest- 
ing story  in  Mailhag  for  August,  1917,  how  his  firm  cashed 
in  on  current  events  in  selling  men's  clothing.  For  ex- 
ample, a  week  before  the  state  Shriners  were  to  visit  Okla- 
homa City,  each  of  them  received  a  letter  on  a  special 
"Shriner's"  letterhead  (which  almost  eliminated  the  name 
of  the  clothier  and  featured  a  Shriner  in  the  desert).  This 
read  as  follows : 

Pretty  soon  you  will  start  across  the  "hot  sands"  on  a  long, 
mysterious  journey. 

— when  you  get  to  the  end  of  this  "all-fired"  journey  you 
will  want  clean  clothes. 

— drive  your  camel  up  to  the  "B  &  M"  and  hitch. 

— it's  the  place;  everything  that  you  and  your  son  like 
to  wear — in  profusion. 

— evening  clothes  that  will  neither  impeach  your  vanity  nor 
impale  your  sanity. 

— everything  to  wear,  desired  by  "well|-breds,"  "thorough- 
breds," and  Shriners. 

— we  anxiously  await  the  coming  of  your  caravan. 

Mr.  Murta  says  of  this  letter:  "Beginning  with  the 
first  hour  the  store  was  opened,  and  continuing  right  up  to 
the  minute  of  closing,  there  was  a  steady  stream  of  red- 
fezzed  customers." 

One  more  example  from  Mr.  Murta 's  campaign  will  be 
helpful.  This  letter  was  sent  to  young  men  about  to  grad- 
uate: 

We  are  always  vitally  interested  in  Commencement  Days. 
It  is  possibly  because  we  meet  and  know  so  many  of  the 
"fellows"  and  are  interested  in  their  work. 

A  large  majority  of  the  boys  get  their  things  to  wear  at  the 
"B  &  M"  and  know  that  our  "18  years  of  reliability  guar- 
antees them  correct  and  dependable  merchandise. 

This  year  we  offer  you  Commencement  clothes  that  are 
EXCLUSIVE  in  design  and  fal)ric,  and  worth  all  you  pay  for 
them — which  makes  your  transactions  mutually  profitable. 

YOU  MAY  need: 

"Stein    Bloch"    or    "Society    Brand"    suits    $—    to    $— . 


IN  APPEALING  "PERSONALLY"  TO  MEN      551 

Straw  hats,  $2  to  $10;  felt  hats,  $3  to  $5;  "B  &  M 
Specials"  or  "Nettleton's"  low  shoes,  $5  to  $12.  Silk  shirts, 
$5  to  $12;  soft  collars,  15^  to  50t  "Indestructo,"  "Osh- 
kosh,"  and  "Neverbreak"  trunks.     Stylish  hand  luggage. 

— We  are  "there  wi^h  the  goods." 

This  letter  "produced  a  handsome  profit  in  immediate 
sales. ' ' 

Another  article  on  this  subject,  telling  how  by  a  series  of 
daily  letters  the  men  of  Indianapolis  were  sold  Strauss 
clothes,  appeared  in  Mailha^/  for  August,  1918,  page  101. 

466.  How  Hart,  Schaffner  &  Marx  Interest  the  Man 
Hard-to-Fit. — Ready-made  clothes  are  comparatively  a  new 
thing,  and  Hart,  Schaffner  &  Marx  have  a  special  letter  for 
their  dealers  to  send  out  to  men  hard  to  fit.     Here  it  is : 

When  we  say  nobody's  hard  to  fit  in  Hart,  Schaffner  & 
Marx  clothes,  there's  something  in  it  for  you. 

You  know  that  we  couldn't  do  business  long  if  we  were  not 
prepared  to  live  up  to.  our  statements. 

We  can  fit  you  perfectly. 

Do  it  in  less  than  half  an  hour. 

Save  $15  to  $20  for  you. 

If  we  can  do  all  these  things  and  give  you  as  good  or  better 
quality  than  you've  been  getting,  isn't  it  worth  your  while? 

You  have  all  to  gain,  and  nothing  to  lose;  seeing  doesn't 
put  you  under  any  obligation. 

See  also  personalized  style  book  shown  on  Fig.  132. 

467.  Making  the  Same  Personal  Appeal  to  Men  and 
Women — A  Comparison. — Perhaps  the  best  method  of 
showing  the  difference  in  appealing  to  men  and  women, 
personally,  will  be  by  reproducing  two  different  letters, 
one  of  which  went  to  men  and  the  other  to  women,  both  of 
which  were  effective. 

The  letters  were  sent  out  for  a  Baltimore  charity.  The 
one  appealing  to  women  appears  in  Section  472,  the  fol- 
lowing went  to  men ;  compare  the  two. 

Suppose — if  you  can  stretch  your  imagination  that  far — 
you  had  been  deserted  when  you  were  seven  weeks  old,  and 
two  poor  ignorant  negroes  had  taken  you  to  their  hovel  in  a 


552         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

wretched  alley  rather  than  see  you  die.  If  you  had  been 
brought  up  under  these  conditions  do  you  think  you  would 
he  the  man  you  are  to-day  f 

Yet  that  is  just  tlie  plight  in  which  the 

Society  found  a  tiny  white  baby  the  other  day,  half  starved 
and  miserable  beyond  description.  Under  our  care  the  child 
will  soon  be  well  and  healthy  again,  ready  to  make  some 
childless  home  happy,  and  to  grow  into  a  useful  citizen. 

It  was  all  in  the  day's  work — just  an  ordinary  case,  typi- 
cal of  a  thousand  which  are  coming  under  our  care  this 
summer.     I  mention   it   simply  to   put   a  new  light   on  the 

letter  which  we  sent  you  a  while  ago,  signed  W.  B. 

and  David  G.  ;  see  the  enclosed  copy. 

This  letter  brought  a  very  generous  response  in  sums 
varying  from  $50  to  $5,  with  a  few  contributions  ever 
smaller.  In  spite  of  this  we  still  need  $2,400  this  summer 
for  the  thousand  little  victims  of  heat,  poverty,  disease,  and 
neglect  who  literally  have  no  one  else  to  save  them  from  the 
suffering  or  even  death. 

Might  not  your  summer  be  made  a  little  pleasanter  by  the 
thought  that  you  had  spared  a  few  dollars  for  this  most 
necessary  work? 

Very  truly  yours, 

General,  Secretary. 

P.  S.  As  our  "overhead"  is  already  taken  care  of,  every 
dollar  you  give  will  go  directly  to  the  aid  of  some  child  in 
distress — regardless  of  race,  creed,  or  color. 

In  commenting  on  this  and  comparing  it  with  the  letter 
to  women,  Printers'  Ink  (December  17,  1914)  said: 
"Note  how  radically  different  is  the  letter  sent  to  men. 
It  is  even  more  straight-from-the-shoulder,  and  has  an  air 
of  business  that  they  appreciated." 

468.  Selling  Sporting  Goods  to  Men. — Those  interested 
in  selling  sporting  goods  to  men  will  find  the  story  of  an 
Abbey  &  Imbrie  fishing-tackle  book  in  Printers'  Ink 
Monthly,  June,  1920,  page  43. 

469.  How  Uncle  Sam  Interests  Boys  to  Enter  the  Navy, 
— Sherley  Hunter,  in  Postage  for  April,  1917,  describes  how 
direct  advertising  was  interlocked  with  other  forms  in  in- 


IN  APPEALING  "PERSONALLY"  TO  MEN      553 

teresting  boys  to  join  the  United  States  Navy.  The  main 
piece  was  a  48-page  booklet  ' '  The  U.  S.  Navy. ' ' 

470.  A  Personal  Appeal  that  Swamped  the  Firm  with 
Returns. — Three  different  garages  in  St.  Louis  jointly  took 
on  the  agency  for  "Tyrian  Tires."  In  every  part  of  the 
country  almost  daily,  similar  agencies  are  established  for 
these  or  some  other  tires.  But  the  St.  Louis  garages  called 
in  the  Ross-Gould  Company  to  direct  a  complete  campaign. 
It  included  letters,  mailing  cards,  samples  of  tubes,  etc.,  but 
the  banner  returns,  returns  that  swamped  the  garage 
company,  came  from  the  third  letter,  the  fifth  piece  in  the 
campaign.  It  was  sent  to  10,000  men,  offering  a  free  to- 
bacco pouch.  Actually  3,600  people  brought  these  coupons 
to  the  three  different  garages  which  had  joined  in  the  cam- 
paign. The  garage  people  had  not  prepared  for  such  a 
large  response  and  ran  out  of  pouches  the  nrst  day;  it 
took  three  weeks  to  get  more.  An  interesting  incident 
which  proves  the  value  of  such  an  appeal  to  men  is  that 
the  president  of  one  of  St.  Louis'  biggest  banks  made  not 
fewer  than  three  trips  to  get  his  free  pouch.  This  "free- 
pouch"  was  tied  up  with  tubes,  for  "it  is  made  of  the 
same  tough,  resilient  rubber  that  goes  into  Tyrian  all-red 
tubes  and  casings." 

The  letter  opened : 

Do  you  smoke? 

I  would  like  to  present  you  with  a  red  rubber  tobacco 
pouch  with  the  compliments  of  the  Tyre  Rubber  Company, 
makers  of  Tyrian  Tires  and  Tubes. 

The  company  even  guaranteed  the  pouch — a  subtle  proof 
of  the  wearing  quality  of  the  casings : 

A  five-year  guarantee  goes  with  this  pouch!  If  it  wears 
out,  we'll  replace  it  free. 

In  this  connection,  see  Section  445. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 

HOW  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  HAS  BEEN  USED  EFFECTIVELY 
IN  APPEALING  "PERSONALLY"  TO  WOMEN 

471.  Woman  the  "Purchasing  Agent"  of  the  Average 

Home. — As  was  explained  in  Section  463,  in  the  purchase 
of  things  for  personal  use  men  do  very  little  on  their  own 
initiative.  Nor  is  there  a  great  deal  of  reciprocal  buying 
— men  buying  for  the  women — to  quote  further  from  Pro- 
fessor Hollingworth :  * '  On  the  other  hand,  the  men  par- 
ticipate but  little  in  the  purchase  of  women's  apparel. 
Women  buy  men's  things  exclusively  eleven  times  as  often 
as  the  men  buy  women's  things  exclusively.  Women  co- 
operate with  men  twice  as  much  as  men  cooperate  with 
women  in  the  purchase  of  their  respective  apparel.  In 
100  per  cent  of  the  cases  women  are  sole  purchasers  of  their 
own  underwear,  lace,  thread,  and  cooking  utensils.  In  80 
per  cent  of  the  cases  they  are  the  sole  purchasers  of  dresses, 
cloaks,  footwear,  hats,  parasols,  gloves,  fans,  handker- 
chiefs, clothes-lines,  chafing  dishes,  kitchen  tables,  ribbons, 
cloth,  flour,  vegetables,  eggs,  butter,  bread,  cereals,  water, 
and  canned  goods.  In  over  50  per  cent  of  the  cases  they 
are  the  sole  purchasers  of  curtains,  mattresses,  meats, 
ranges,  talcums,  and  perfumes.  Women  buy  83  per  cent 
of  the  food,  but  less  than  50  per  cent  of  the  house  furnish- 
ings, exclusively." 

Women  are  more  responsive  to  appeals  made  bj-  illus- 
tration and  by  use  of  color  than  men  are,  while  men  are  in- 
duced to  buy  as  a  result  of  logical  copy,  presented  with 
dignity,  clearness,  and  force. 

472.  Making  the  Same  Personal  Appeal  to  Women  as 
to  Men — A  Comparison. — In  Section  467  there  is  quoted 
in  full  an  effective  letter  sent  out  as  an  appeal  to  men  by 

554 


APPEALING  "PERSONALLY"  TO  WOMEN      555 

a  Baltimore  charity.  The  following  two-paged  letter, 
one-half  of  the  first  page  being  devoted  to  photographs  of 
children  who  were  pulled  through  the  preceding  summer 
by  the  Society  making  the  appeal,  was  sent  to  women : 

Should  babies  like  this  live?  Were  they  worth  the  few 
dollars  apiece  that  it  cost  to  save  them  last  summer?  Yet 
they  are  only  a  fair  sample  of  last  summer's  work  in  over  a 
thousand  distressing  cases. 

To  suggest  what  we  are  doing,  let  me  quote  three  cases  out 
of  the  dozens  which  have  come  to  my  personal  attention  one 
day  this  week : 

This  is  the  story  of  three  little  tots.  Their  mother  is  dead, 
their  father  incurably  ill  in  a  hospital,  and  absolutely  no 
relatives  to  provide  their  moral  or  financial  support  can  be 
found.  Instead  of  their  being  left  to  slifft  for  themselves 
we  heard  of  the  case  and  have  placed  two  of  them  for  the 
summer  with  a  kind-hearted  family  (at  a  cost  of  $5.00  each 
for  outfit  and  transportation),  and  are  boarding  the  third 
(at  $2.50  a  week)  until  it  is  physically  fit  to  be  sent  to  an- 
other family. 

One  of  our  trained  workers  found  a  seven-weeks-old  white 
baby  in  a  negro  hovel  in  a  wretched  alley.  Its  mother  and 
father  had  simply  deserted  it.  The  negroes  had  taken  it  in 
rather  than  see  it  die,  but  they  were  too  poor  and  too  ignorant 
to  care  for  it,  and  when  found  it  was  half  starved  and  miser- 
able beyond  description.  Its  care  in  a  good  private  home  will 
cost  us  $3.50  a  week'  for  the  rest  of  the  summer  and  then  it 
will  go  to  make  some  cliildless  home  happy.  I  saw  the  child 
on  Monday — a  week  after  we  took  it — and  it  was  already 
greatly  improved. 

Another  baby,  eleven  months  old,  weighing  no  more  than 
a  normal  child  of  three  months,  was  discovered  almost  dead 
from  sheer  neglect.  We  found  that  its  mother  had  been 
leaving  it  alone  in  the  house  all  day,  while  she  spent  her  time 
in  idleness  around  the  neighborhood.  She  was  simply  "no 
good,"  and  no  effort  on  our  part  could  arouse  in  her  the 
slightest  interest  in  her  child.  This  little  one  is  now  winning 
its  fight  for  life,  and  if  country  air  and -loving  care  can  be 
continued  through  September  it  will  be  guaranteed  a  right 
to  live. 

I  believe  that  I  could  cite  cases  enough — some  of  them  dis- 


556         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

tressing  and  sordid  beyond  anything  most  of  us  could  im- 
agine— to  loosen  the  purse-strings  of  every  child-loving 
woman  in  Baltimore.  Might  not  your  summer  be  made  a 
little  pleasanter  by  the  thought  that  you  had  shared  in  this 
most  necessary  work?  Every  dollar  you  send  will  go  di- 
rectly toward  helping  some  baby  who  must  otherwise  be 
left  to  die  or  worse,  to  live  happily. 

I  cannot  imagine  a  worthier  cause.     Can  you? 
Very  truly  yours, 

General  Secretary. 

P.  S.  Any  child  in  distress  is  an  object  of  our  care — we 
make  no  distinction  of  race,  color,  or  creed.  Kindly  send 
your  name  with  your  contribution  so  we  can  properly  ac- 
knowledge it. 

Remarking  upon  this  efifective  letter,  which  should  be 
studied  closely  in  connection  with  the  one  addressed  to  men 
in  Section  467,  Printers^  Ink  said:  "Besides  proving 
most  productive  of  funds,  this  letter  gave  rise  to  comments 
on  the  part  of  recipients  which  showed  plainly  that  it  was 
not  a  line  too  long  to  get  a  thorough  and  cordial  reading." 

473.  The  Recipe-book  a  Stand-by  in  Appealing  to 
Women. — There  is  scarcely  a  food  advertiser  who  does  not 
use  in  some  way  a  recipe-book,  which  is  a  stand-by  in  sell- 
ing food  to  women  by  direct  advertising.  Every  house- 
wife is  interested  in  making  good  things,  and  wishes  to  be-- 
come  a  good  cook.  Therefore  a  cook-book,  recipe-book,  or 
dessert-book  is  almost  certain  of  finding  interest  ready- 
made.  This  chapter  could  be  filled  with  a  list  of  effective 
recipe-books;  instead  we  shall  give  you  apropos  the  advice 
of  John  Orr  Young,  formerly  with  Procter  &  Gamble  Com- 
pany, makers  of  Crisco  and  other  food  and  vegetable  prod- 
ucts. 

At  the  time  he  gave  Printers'  Ink  his  experience  for 
record  (August  13,  1914),  there  were  no  fewer  than  forty- 
six  national  advertisers  offering  this  form  of  direct  adver- 
tising. From  this  he  emphasized  the  fact  that  "nowa- 
days it  takes  something  very  greatly  above  the  mediocre  to 
win  her  [the  housewife's]  respect." 


APPEALING  ''PERSONALLY"  TO  WOMEN      557 

"If  the  book  makes  a  good  impression — if  its  quality- 
stands  out  above  all  the  others — she  will  take  it  back  to 
the  kitchen  and  use  it, ' '  observed  Mr.  Young. 

Cook-book  advertising  is  timely — it  talks  to  the  prospect 
at  the  time  of  use,  and  gives  specific  instructions  which 
show  the  product  at  its  best. 

**In  a  certain  food-product  campaign  we  prepared  a 
book  of  menus,  recipes,  and  cookery  suggestions,  which 
was  printed  in  two  colors  and  bound  attractively  in  cloth. 
The  volume  cost  several  times  what  we  charged  the  con- 
sumer for  it.  The  readers  of  the  publications  in  which  it 
was  advertised  were  asked  to  send  a  few  stamps  to  cover 
the  cost  of  mailing  and  packing.  When  Mrs.  Housewife 
received  her  book  she  was  agreeably  surprised!"  continues 
Mr.  Young,  going  on  to  explain  how  she  in  turn  told  others 
and  thus  gave  the  publishers  of  this  cloth-bound  book  ad- 
ditional free  verbal  advertising  which  was  worth  a  great 
deal  of  money.  His  entire  appeal  was  for  quality  in  the 
recipe-book  because  he  believes  that  it  should  have  a  'long 
life  and  that  nothing  cheap  and  tawdry  will  live  long. 

A  housewife,  Mrs.  Margaret  A.  Bartlett,  in  Printers' 
Ink  for  August  19,  1920,  corroborates  Mr.  Young's  state- 
ments and  eulogizes  the  cook-book  of  the  Five  Roses  Flour. 

Miss  Helen  A.  Ballard  covers  much  the  same  ground  in 
an  article  in  Printers'  Ink  Monthly  for  March,  1920,  page 
71,  where  she  gives  the  experiences  of  many  national  ad- 
vertisers including  California  Associated  Raisin  Company, 
Igleheart  Brothers  (Swan's  Down  Flour),  California  As- 
sociated Fruit  Growers,  Wilson  &  Company,  The  Hipolite 
Company,  Franklin  Baker  &  Companj^  Genesee  Pure  Food 
Company  (Jell-O),  Del  Monte,  and  others.  She  made  the 
suggestion,  taken  from  the  experiences  of  others,  that  it 
was  good  strategy  to  use  well-known  authors  for  the  cook- 
books, pointing  out  that  really  new  recipes  were  not  the 
rule  these  days.  Marion  Harland,  Mrs.  Rorer,  Janet  I\Ic- 
Kenzie  Hill,  Elizabeth  Palmer  Bonesteel,  and  others  of  na- 
tional .reputation  have  been  used  by  various  advertisers. 


558         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

474.  A  Letter  V^hich  Brought  70  Per  Cent  Action.— 

Burton  J.  Bigelow,  in  Postage  for  June,  1916,  page  48, 
tells  of  a  letter  which  got  70  per  cent  action  from  women. 
The  letter  read: 

Dear  Mrs,  Williams : 

We  have  sent  some  of  our  wonderful  Clean-all  Absorbing 
Dust  Cloths  to  Mr.  C.  E.  Kocker,  The  Cash  Bargain  Store, 
of  your  city,  and  have  selected  you  upon  their  recommenda- 
tion as  one  of  the  housewives  to  receive  one  of  these  dust 
cloths  free  of  all  charge. 

There  are  to-day,  Madam,  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
housewives  in  this  country  who  would  no  more  be  without  a 
bottle  of  Cleanall  in  the  house  than  they  would  be  without 
sugar  or  salt  or  coffee — for,  like  those  articles,  they  use 
Cleanall  many  times  every  day. 

So,  it  will  be  worth  your  while  to  step  into  the  Cash  Bar- 
gain Store  some  time  this  week  and  ask  for  your  Cleanall 
Dust  Cloth. 

Don't  put  it  off — go  to-day,  if  possible.  And,  remember, 
you  don't  have  to  pay  a  cent — we  have  taken  care  of  that. 
Sincerely, 

J.  W.  WiDMEO, 

Cleanall  Manufacturing  Company. 

This  is  another  sampling  appeal,  you  will  note,  and  shows 
that  women  are  susceptible  to  it.  This  particular  letter 
was  sent  out  on  a  good  grade  of  note  paper  (see  Appendix) 
folded  in  an  envelope  to  match.  It  was  very  carefully 
duplicated  and  matched  perfectly.  The  tone  of  the  letter 
was  personal,  there  was  no  large  glaring  letterhead ;  in 
fact,  aside  from  ''Chicago,  111.,  June  1,  1916,"  there  was 
no  heading  at  all.  To  complete  the  effect  and  carry  out 
the  idea  of  a  personal  communication,  no  return  address  was 
put  on  the  envelope  itself.  It  was  addressed  in  a  neat, 
legible,  feminine  handwriting  (see  Section  350  (a))  so  that 
it  had  the  appearance  of  a  personal  letter  from  the  outside. 

S,  E.  Kiser,  in  Printers'  Ink  Monthly  for  January,  1920, 
tells  how  Balch,  Price  &  Company,  of  Brooklyn,  used  this 
plan  almost  identically,  except  for  the  sampling,  in  selling 
high-grade   hats,   dresses,   and   furs.     Mr.    Kiser   says,    in 


APPEALING  "PERSONALLY"  TO  WOMEN      559 

part:  "A  beginning  was  made  by  choosing  a  high  grade 
of  paper,  which  was  embellished  with  an  embossed  mono- 
gram in  gold.  There  was  nothing  about  the  envelope  or 
the  four-page  sheet  accompanying  it  to  suggest  commer- 
cialism. ' ' 

475.  Appealing  to  Brides. — James  Wallen,  a  specialist  in 
copy,  says  this  letter  sent  out  to  Buffalo  brides  for  a  fur- 
niture house  was  very  effective: 

We  are  sending  you,  as  a  token  of  our  esteem  and  well 
wishes,  a  Vase-craft  Flower  Stick. 

The  one-flower  holder  idea  was  borrowed  from  the  Jap- 
anese.    It  symbolizes  the  one  flower  of  the  heart. 

The  Johnston-Kurtz  Establishment  aims  to  be  of  value 
and  service  to  the  bride-to-be,  by  assisting  her  in  the  selec- 
tion of  the  worthy  and  beautiful  in  home  furnishings  and 
plenishings. 

We  will  be  happy  to  extend  the  facilities  of  this  establish- 
ment to  you. 

Maxwell  Droke,  another  specialist  in  copy  appealing 
more  from  the  heart  and  less  from  the  "historical  side," 
cites  this  letter  in  Postage  for  July,  1917,  as  an  effective 
letter  to  brides : 

After  the  wedding  and  the  honeymoon  comes  one  of  the 
great  problems  of  your  life — making  the  house  a  home. 

You  are  so  very  anxious  to  have  everything  "comfy"  and 
congenial  for  Him.  You  want  each  rug  and  bit  of  furni- 
ture to  express  that  "homey"  feeling,  just  as  Mother's  al- 
ways did.  I  know  exactly  how  you  feel  about  it.  So,  won't 
you  let  me  aid  in  selecting  your  household  furnishings?  I 
am  sure  the  two  of  us,  working  together,  will  be  able  to  find 
the  very  things  you  want.  .  .  . 

476.  Effective  Direct  Advertising  to  Women — Addi- 
tional References. — G.  Lynn  Summer,  Vice-President  of 
the  Woman's  Institute,  Scranton,  Pa.,  which  gets  all  of  its 
inquiries  from  publication  advertising  but  which  sells  to 
women  entirely  by  mail,  said  that  the  institute's  one  prob- 
lem in  direct  advertising  was  to  create  confidence  in  the 
minds  of  the  inquirer.  It  therefore  uses  high-grade  cata- 
logues and  conforms  its  literature  to  this  end. 


560         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Miss  Dorothy  R.  Entwistle,  of  Filene's,  Boston,  at  the 
1920  meeting  of  the  New  England  Federation  of  Adver- 
tising Clubs,  gave  an  excellent  talk  on  this  subject.  Miss 
Entwistle  asked  the  question:  ''What  are  the  reasons 
that  influence  women  to  buy?"  and  answered  in  part: 
"First  on  the  list  I  should' put  'Beauty.'  It  is  the  love  of 
beauty  that  prompts  most  of  the  purchases.  The  second 
reason  why  women  buy  is  'To  save.'  The  appeal  of  the  elec- 
tric vacuum  cleaner  and  electric  laundry  machinery  for  the 
home  is  the  triple  one  of  time,  money,  and  labor-saving.  I 
have  saved  the  most  important  reason  why  women  buy 
until  the  last — it  is  because  women  love  to  spend.  Because 
women  love  to  spend,  it  is  good  business  for  the  merchant 
to  give  them  good  values.  For  what  they  save  on  one 
thing  they  generally  spend  on  another.  Perhaps  the  real 
reason  why  women  love  a  bargain  is  that  it  means  just  so 
many  more  purchases.  Women  are  appealed  to  in  adver- 
tising more  easily  through  their  feelings  than  through  their 
reason — and  in  this  respect  they  are  not  different  from 
men.  An  easy  recipe  for  advertising  that  will  sell  women 
is  the  use  of  pictures.  The  best  pictures  are  those  that  tell 
a  story  in  themselves.  They  show  what  the  article  adver- 
tised will  do.  Pictures  make  an  instantaneous  appeal. 
Summing  up,  then,  how  to  sell  the  women : 

1.  Be  original. 

2.  Use  your  space  as  effcetively  as  possible. 

3.  Advertise  what  women  want  to  buy  rather  than  what  you 

want  to  sell. 

4.  Give  good  values. 

5.  Appeal  to  the  feelings  rather  than  to  reason. 

6.  Sweeten  the  cold,  hard  facts  with  editorial  advertising. 

7.  Be  specific. 

8.  Use  illustrations  that  are  correct  in  every  detail. 

See  also  personalized  booklet  on  Fig.  132  advertising 
motor  cars  to  women.  Lack  of  space  forbids  our  going  fur- 
ther into  this  important  subject,  but  we  know  that  w^oman's 
influence  is  felt  in  many  sales.  These  additional  references, 
therefore,  will  be  of  value : 


APPEALING  ''PERSONALLY"  TO  WOMEN      561 

"The  Floors  of  our  Home,"  story  of  a  well-planned  booklet  to 
sell  hardwood  floors  to  mothers  and  heads  of  homes.  Direct  Ad- 
vertising, Vol.  VII,  No.  2,  page  20. 

Experiences  of  J.  F.  Beale,  Jr.,  formerly  advertising  manager 
of  several  New  York  stores,  in  selling  women  by  direct  advertis- 
ing.    Mailhag,  August,  1919,  page  114. 

"Sales  from  Society  Columns"  {Mailhag,  August,  1917,  page 
128),  by  Felix  J.  Koch,  telling  how  by  closely  following  the  so- 
ciety columns  retailers  can  increase  their  sales  through  use  of 
direct  advertising.  This  cashing  in  on  current  events  (see  Sec- 
tion 196)  is  excellent  strategy.  In  this  article  the  retailer  is 
urged  to  keep  a  card  record  not  only  of  prospects  but  friends  of 
prospects  so  that  following  the  announcement,  say,  of  the  en- 
gagement of  Miss  Virginia  Dare,  adopted  daughter  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  J.  Barleycorn,  the  retailer  can  write  an  appropriate  letter 
to  all  her    friends. 

Helen  A.  Ballard,  in  Printer^  Ink  for  June  5,  1919,  explains 
the  campaign  of  the  Du  Pont  Fabrikoid  Company  built  around  a 
booklet  designed  to  induce  women  to  become  their  own  up- 
holsterers. 

"What  Kind  of  Advertising  Do  Women  Read?"  is  ably  an- 
swered in  Printers'  Ink  for  July  15,  1920,  page  137,  by  Elsie  B. 
Johns.  An  advertising  woman  herself,  Miss  Johns  analyzes  a 
current  success  in  the  women's  field. 


CHAPTER  XXXV 

HOW  DIRECT  ADVERTISING  HAS  BEEN  USED  EFFECTIVELY 
IN  APPEALING  TO  CHILDREN 

477.  The  Importance  of  the  Child  Market  in  the  Eyes 
of  National  Advertisers. — Paul  W.  Kearney,  formerly  as- 
sociate editor  of  Advertising  &  Selling,  in  the  issue  of 
that  publication  for  December  20,  1919,  quoted  the  opinions 
of  several  national  advertisers  on  the  market  to  boys  and 
girls.  Prior  to  an  examination  of  several  typical  direct- 
advertising  campaigns,  the  opinions  of  some  of  these  lead- 
ers in  the  field  will  not  only  be  interesting  but  suggestive. 

George  S.  Fowler,  advertising  manager  Colgate  &  Com- 
pany, said:  "We  believe  that  the  child  is  the  father  of 
the  home  in  a  very  real  way  when  it  comes  to  the  selection 
of  some  products  within  the  scope  of  our  line.  If  you 
want  something  to  last  a  lifetime,  plant  a  tree;  if  you  want 
something  to  last  a  thousand  years,  plant  a  habit  in  a 
child." 

Even  such  an  expensive  thing  as  a  watch  can  be  bought, 
or  at  least  its  purchase  influenced,  by  children.  Robert 
E.  Miller,  advertising  manager  of  the  Hamilton  Watch 
Company,  said  with  regard  to  that  company's  juvenile 
advertising,  that  it  was  done  on  the  basis  of  "reaching  a 
class  of  prospective  purchasers  who  will  be  real  purchasers 
in  three  or  four  years,  believing  that  educational  work  of 
this  character  is  valuable  to  us,  and  that  the  boy  of  this 
age  exerts  quite  a  little  influence  in  the  purchase  of  an 
article  so  high  grade  and  expensive  as  a  Hamilton  watch." 

Others  quoted  by  Mr.  Kearney  in  this  article,  "Making 
Friends  Before  You  Need  Them,"  were  J.  A.  Priest,  Hen- 
dee  Manufacturing  Company;  W.  P.  Aldrich,  Westfield 
Manu^facturing  Company;  J.  Noah  Slee,  Jr.,  Three-in-One 
Oil  Company;  H.  B.  Kohorn.  advertising  director  Kaynee 

562 


IN  APPEALING  TO  CHILDREN  563 

Company;  J,  S.  Hinkley,  advertising  manager  Geneva 
Cutlery  Company;  H.  K.  Gilbert,  Oliver  Typewriter  Com- 
pany ;  Edward  S.  LaBart,  Wilson  &  Company ;  W.  S.  Stone, 
Gorham  Company;  Frank  L.  Erskine,  advertising  man- 
ager, W.  L.  Douglas  Shoe  Company,  and  F,  R.  Goodell, 
president  Converse  Rubber  Shoe  Company. 

478.  How  International  Harvester  Company  Uses  Di- 
rect Advertising  to  Get  Good  Will  of  the  Child. — Keep- 
ing the  boy  and  the  girl  on  the  farm  has  long  been  a  prob- 
lem, and  yet  upon  it  the  future  welfare  of  the  country  de- 
pends, in  a  great  measure.  What  is  more  natural,  then, 
that  a  firm  whose  success  is  entirely  wrapped  up  in 
the  farm  field  should  undertake  a  campaign  to  get  the 
good  will  of  the  child  and  at  the  same  time  help  the  farm 
by  keeping  the  boy  and  girl  there?  Printers'  Ink,  August 
16,  1917,  page  65,  tells  the  story  of  a  campaign  with  these 
objects  in  view.  Direct  advertising  played  an  important 
part.  A  book  was  issued  which  had  for  its  purpose  the 
encouraging  of  the  teaching  of  agriculture  in  schools.  ' '  The 
book  is  filled  with  cartoons  and  pictures,  which  visualize 
the  tragedy  of  wrong  methods  of  instruction,  and  show 
how  interesting  the  study  is  when  practical  methods  are 
followed,"  is  the  remark  of  the  reporter.  At  the  same 
time  the  company  had  available  over  a  dozen  publications 
suited  to  the  needs  of  schools,  such  as  "A  Pig  for  Every 
Boy,"  ''Fly  Catechism,"  ''Binder  Twine  Industry,"  etc. 
Printers'  Ink  closes  the  article  with  this  statement:  "The 
whole  effort  is  a  splendid  example  of  the  business  institu- 
tion that  is  not  so  bent  on  getting  to-day's  orders  that  it 
forgets  about  building  for  the  future." 

This  campaign  is  only  indirectly  helpful  in  selling  the 
company's  products,  though  of  course  some  things  can  be 
sold  to  the  children  themselves. 

479.  Selling  the  Children  and,  Through  Them,  Their 
Parents. — One  firm  selling  express  wagons  to  boys  found 
a  selling  appeal  in  fostering  the  organization  of  "Coaster 
Clubs,"  according  to  an  article  appearing  in  Printers'  Ink 
for  July  29,  1920. 


564         EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Leopold,  Solomon  &  Eisendrath,  Chicago  clothiers,  mak- 
ers of  Langham-High  Clothes  for  Boys,  found  as  very  ef- 
fective, form  letters  sent  to  lists  of  boys'  names  furnished 
by  dealers.  One  little  detail  found  interesting  to  note  was 
that  letters  addressed:  "Dear  Sir" — indicating  manhood 
— were  more  effective.  In  this  campaign  the  letterhead 
carried  a  reproduction  in  colors  of  the  company's  posters 
which  showed  a  boy  of  high-school  age  in  action.  The 
same  plan  has  been  used  for  seven  years. 

Miss  B.  Gatzert,  in  charge  of  the  company's  advertising, 
in  commenting  on  this  campaign  for  Printers'  Ink  (May 
30,  1918)  said:  "One  reason  why  dealers  are  rather  in- 
clined to  feature  Langham-High  clothes  is  that  they  realize 
that  the  boys  not  only  are  likely  to  patronize  them,  but  also 
that  they  influence  the  purchasing  of  the  whole  family." 

Wrigley's  have  for  a  long  time  used,  first,  a  Wrigley's 
"Mother  Goose"  book,  and,  later,  a  "Wrigley  Spearmen" 
book,  to  reach  the  kiddies  and,  through  them,  their  parents, 
in  behalf  of  Wrigley's  chewing  gums. 

The  first-mentioned  book,  for  example,  on  its  title-page 
bears  this  dedication  under  a  picture  showing  five  heads, 
representing  ages  ranging  from  about  6  to  60  years : 

TO   THE    CHILDREN 

OF   THE   WORLD 

"from  6  TO  60" 

in  the  hope  that  it  will  serve  to  pass  many  a  happy  hour  and 

point  a  way  to   much  beneficial  pleasure  at  small  cost  in 

wrigley's 
this  book  is  dedicated. 

While  this  is  the  introduction : 

When  shadows  creep  and  Night  is  deep, 

When  all  is  hushed — and  mortals  sleep, 

The  busy  elves  bestir  themselves 

With  doings  strange.     Then  on  the  shelves, 

In  red  and  gold  their  story's  told 

In  books  for  young  folks  (and  for  old!). 


IN  APPEALING  TO  CHILDREN  565 

Of  Spearman  queer  no  tales  you  hear, 
These  Happy  Friends  that  bring  good  cheer! 
Throughout  the  land — on  every  hand 
They  toil  by  Day — this  Wrigley  band — 
In  cities  near,  through  country  drear, 
They  speed  to  spread  their  helpful  cheer. 

So  let  this  little  booklet  be 
A  tribute  to  their  industry. 

One  example  of  the  "  Wrigleyized "  Mother  Goose 
rhymes  will  give  an  idea  of  the  copy  appeal  of  this  book- 
let: 

Little  Bo-Spear  has  lost  her  deer; 
Where  do  you  think  she'll  find  them? 
There  they  wander  in  the  Spearmint  yonder — 
Wagging  their  tails  behind  them! 

The  Western  Electric  Company  in  order  to  utilize  the 
influence  of  the  child  put  on  the  market  a  miniature  elec- 
tric cooking  stove.  Broadsides  and  consumer  direct  ad- 
vertising were  used  in  marketing  this  toy,  and  in  Printers' 
Ink  for  November  25,  1915,  shortly  after  the  campaign  was 
launched,  P.  L.  Thomson  said :  "Orders  from  dealers  have 
already  been  sufficient  to  indicate  the  success  of  the  cam- 
paign." 

R.  Winston  Haryey,  when  advertising  manager  of  Crad- 
dock-Terry  Shoe  Company,  Lynchburg,  Va.,  said  that  a 
letter  furnished  by  them  for  mailing  to  mothers,  names 
furnished  by  their  dealers,  brought  excellent  results  for 
the  dealers  {Printers'  Ink,  December  2,  1915,  page  72). 

480.  What  One  Bank  Accomplished  in  Appealing  to 
Children. — At  the  Indianapolis  convention  of  the  Asso- 
ciated Advertising  Clubs  a  speaker  before  the  financial  ad- 
vertisers' department  told  what  the  Bank  of  Italy,  San 
Francisco,  California,  had  accomplished  in  appealing  to 
children.  Since  1911  (ten  years  before)  this  financial  in- 
stitution had  been  advertising  to  children  with  the  two- 
fold idea  that — 


566        EFFECTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

First:     What  interests  the  children  interests  the  parents; 
Secondly :     The  children  of  to-day  will  be  the  grown  folk  of 
to-morrow. 

The  effect  of  this  advertising  has  been  a  gradually  increas- 
ing interest  in  the  bank  throughout  the  state;  an  interest 
that,  like  the  bank's,  is  compounded  each  year.  At  the 
present  time  the  wisdom  of  the  plan  is  well  recognized. 

Twenty-five  thousand  children  have  opened  accounts 
with  the  Bank  of  Italy  for  a  total  of  half  a  million  dollars 
and  the  boys  and  girls  of  ten  and  eleven  at  the  time  the  ad- 
vertising started  are  now  reaching  their  majority  and  open- 
ing accounts  as  adults. 

481.  Effectively  Reaching  the  Student. — College  stu- 
dents have  passed  the  "child"  stage,  though  their  minds 
are  still  in  a  formative  period.  It  is  therefore  the  part  of 
wisdom  of  some  manufacturers  to  advertise  to  them.  Take 
the  American  Radiator  Company,  for  example.  This  con- 
cern found  it  profitable,  even  as  far  back  as  1914,  to  publish 
direct  advertising  aimed  at  embryonic  engineers  and  archi- 
tects. The  Vacuum  Oil  Company  publishes  several  book- 
lets and  bulletins  used  as  texts  in  the  various  technical 
schools  throughout  the  country. 

H.  S.  Beecher,  advertising  manager  Gillette  Safety  Razor 
Company,  of  Canada,  in  talking  before  the  Association  of 
Canadian  Advertisers  in  the  fall  of  1920,  gave  the  details 
of  an  extremely  effective  campaign  to  high-school  graduates. 
The  firm  got  out  a  special  96-page  booklet  on  Canada  which 
was  sent  to  the  student  with  a  letter,  A  number  of  pages 
was  used  to  advertise  Gillettes,  without  detracting  from  the 
book  itself.  Even  girls'  names  were  used!  To  the  girls 
was  sent  a  letter  suggesting  that  if  they  were  going  to  give 
any  gentlemen  presents  they  consider  the  Gillette  razor. 
The  company  also  advertised  to  the  boys'  fathers. 

482.  How  Victor  Talking  Machine  Company  Invested 
Nearly  $100,000  a  Year  to  Develop  Sales  to  Schools. — 
Changing  from  the  strictly  commercial  angle,  the  reverse 
of  the  shield  will  be  good  to  look  upon.  Printers'  Ink  for 
April  22,  1915,  page  17,  tells  us  how  the  Victor  Talking 


Fig.  133. — Two  methods  of  appealinj?  to  the  parent  through  the 
child.  A.  Showing  children  using  furniture  for  play  purposes.  B. 
Showing  children  actuall^^  enjoying  a  product. 

567 


568         EFFEtlTIVE  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 

Machine  Company  invested  nearly  $100,000  a  year  to  de- 
velop sales  of  talking  machines  to  schools  for  the  use  of 
school  children. 

Victor  started  this  work  in  1911,  but  the  campaign  did 
not  get  well  under  way  until  1915,  at  which  time  the  com- 
pany was  mailing  nearly  3,000,000  pieces  a  year  for  this 
purpose.  One  mailing  list  alone  contained  55,000  names. 
At  that  time  schools  in  more  than  3,500  cities  were  using 
Victor  machines.  In  some  cities  there  were  several  hun- 
dred victrolas  in  the  schools.  In  keeping  with  what  has 
been  related  before  in  this  chapter  of  the  appeal  to  parents 
through  their  children,  it  is  easy  to  realize  that  after  chil- 
dren have  listened  to  a  Victor  concert  they  will  go  home 
and  say :  "I  heard  Melba  and  Caruso  sing  to-day  on  the 
Victrola. "  Even  though  the  schools  have  purchased  the 
machines,  yet  the  advertising  value  becomes  more  and  more 
cumulative. 

"One  of  the  strong  factors  in  the  work,"  says  Printers' 
Ink,  "was  a  booklet  called  'A  New  Correlation.'  This 
was  sent  free  upon  request.  The  booklet  presented  a  his- 
tory of  music  from  the  time  of  Moses  to  the  present.  It 
pointed  out  what  was  most  important  from  the  Victor 
viewpoint — how  the  talking  machine  might  be  used  in 
every  department  of  the  school  work  to  correlate  music  with 
other  subjects." 

The  book  gave  valuable  hints  on  how  to  use  the  Victor  in 
all  departments.  It  also  made  appropriate  suggestions  on 
how  to  use  the  Victor  in  connection  with  closing-da}^  exer- 
cises and  the  like.  H.  C.  Brown,  who  described  the  cam- 
paign tt)  Printers'  Ink,  declared  that  after  the  publication 
of  the  book  the  company's  sales  to  schools  were  greater 
';han  ever  before. 

483.  How  Pictures  Can  Be  Used  to  Appeal  to 
Children. — As  is  universally  known,  children  are  easily 
appealed  to  by  use  of  pictures.  That  is  why  you  will  find 
in  Fig.  133  two  different  suggestions  showing  methods  and 
effects  of  the  child  appeal.  These  illustrations  are  given 
throygh  the  courtesy  of  the  Ethridge  Association  of  Artists. 


APPENDIX  A 

STANDARD  BOOKLET,  CATALOGUE,  HOUSE  ORGAN,  ALMA- 
NAC, AND  PORTFOLIO  SIZES,  TOGETHER  WITH 
STANDARD  SIZES  FOR  FORMS 

484.  What  the  Use  of  Standard  Sizes  Means  to  Direct 
Advertisers. — The  term  "standard  sizes"  for  booklets, 
catalogues,  house  organs,  almanacs,  portfolios,  as  well  as 
stationery  and  office  forms,  refers  to  certain  standard  sizes 
of  paper  which  cut,  print,  and,  in  the  case  of  booklets, 
catalogues,  etc.,  fold  witJiout  waste. 

The  direct  advertiser  can  make  a  catalogue,  booklet,  or 
folder  of  almost  any  size  within  reason,  if  he  insists,  but 
the  freak  or  odd  sizes  mean  troublesome  printing,  perhaps 
hand  folding  in  many  cases,  and  special  runs  of  paper  at 
increased  costs. 

485.  Twenty-two  Standard  Booklet,  Catalogue,  House- 
organ,  Almanac,  and  Portfolio  Sizes. — The  twenty-two 
standard  sizes  (page  570)  refer  to  the  trimmed  page  size, 
after  allowing  %-inch  trim  at  the  top  and  l^-inch  trim  at 
bottom  and  front: 

If  a  size  of  6x9  is  desired,  for  example,  your  printer 
simply  trims  off  an  extra  Vs  inch  on  the  long  side  of  the 
6  X  914?  booklet  referred  to  in  the  table  on  page  570.  If 
7V2  X  10%  is  desired,  an  extra  i/i-inch  off  the  shorter  side, 
and  so  on.  All  trims  beyond  the  necessary  Vs  at  top  and 
^  at  bottom  and  front  are  waste — the  purchaser  pays  for 
the  paper  by  the  pound  and  this  waste  goes  into  the  paper- 
baler  of  the  printer. 

569 


570 


APPENDICES 


486.  Seventeen  Standard  Sizes  for  Stationery,  Office 
Forms,  and  Mailing  Slips. — The  table  on  page  571  is  fig- 
ured on  the  use  of  a  sheet  of  22  x  34  bond  paper,  for  station- 
ery,   office    forms,    and    inexpensive    mailing   slips,    some 


Page 

Size 


Paper 
Sheet 
Size 
Body 
Cuts 
from 


Number 

Pages 

Signatures 


Cover 

Sheet 
Size 


No. 

Covers 


3x6 


3y4x 

33/4  X 

3%x 
3%  X 
41/2  X 
3%x 

4  X 

5  X 
51/4  X 
41/2  X 
51/4  X 

5y2x 

4%  X  105/s 

5y4X     878 

5y4  X  ioy4 

6  X    OVs 

63/4  X  loys 

63/4  X  10% 

73/4  X  10% 

8    X  iiys 

9V4.  X  i2y8 


5y8 

6% 

678 
578 

7y4 

QVs 
6% 
6% 
8 

7% 

778 


25x38 

28x44 

32x44 

28x44 

32x44 

25x38 

33x46 

25x38 

28  X  42 

28x44 

25x88 

32x44 

33x46 

28x44 

28x44 

32x44 

25  X  38 

28x42 

28x44 

32x44 

33x46 

25x38 


24 

8,  16,  32 

8,  16,  32 

24 

24 

8,  16,  32 

24 

24 

8,  16,  32 

8,  16,  32 

24 

8,  16,  32 

8,  16,  32 

24 

24 

24 

8,  16,  32 

8,  16,  32 

8,  16,  32 

8,  16,  32 

8,  16,  32 

8,  16 


20x26 

23x33 

23x33 

23x33 

23x33 

20x26 

23x33 

20x26 

23x33 

23x33 

20x26 

23x33 

23x33 

23x33 

23  X  33 

23x33 

20x26 

23x33 

23x33 

23x33 

23  x  33 

20  X  26 


12 

18 

16 

12 

12 

8 

12 

6 

9 

9 

6 

8 

8 

6 

6 

6 

4 

4 

4 

4 

4 

2 


package  inserts,  and  the  like.  See  Appendix  C  for  sizes  of 
other  papers  upon  which  these  might  also  be  printed.  These 
sizes  cut  without  waste.  In  this  table  no  folding  is  con- 
sidered : 


STANDARD  SIZES 


571 


Size 

Cuts  out 

of  Piece 

of  One 

Finished 

Sheet 

4%  X 

3% 

48 

2Ww  X 

5^/4 

48 

5V2    X 

m 

32 

5%  X 

3% 

36 

7^^  X 

2% 

36 

71/3  X 

3% 

27 

7^  X 

^Vi 

24 

SVz  X 

3% 

24 

8V2   X 

51/2 

16 

5%  X 

5li 

24 

5%  X 

71/3 

18 

SV2  X 

71/3 

12 

11%    X 

3% 

18 

11         X 

m 

16 

im  X 

51^ 

12 

im  X 

71/3 

9 

81^  X 

11  * 

8 

Printing 
Combination 


1,2,4,8,12,24,48  up 

1,  2,  4,  8, 12,  24,  48,  up 

1,  2,  4,  8, 16,  32  up 

1,  2, 4,  6, 18,  36  up 

1,  2,  3,  6, 12, 18,  36  up 

1,  3,  9,  27  up 

1,  2, 4,  6, 12,  24  up 

1,  3,  4,  6, 12,  24  up 

1,  2,  4,  8, 16  up 

1,  2, 4,  8, 12,  24  up 

1,  2,  3,  9, 18  up 

1,  2,  6, 12  up 

1,  2,  6, 18  up 

1, 2, 4,  8, 16  up 

1,  2,  4, 12  up 

1,3,9  up 

1,  2, 4,  8  up 


1000  Forms 
Requiref 


21 
21 
31 
28 
28 
37 
41 
41 
62 
41 
55 
83 
55 
62 
83 
111 
125 


sheets 


*  This  is  the  regular  (standard)  size  for  single-page  letterheads. 
t  This  column   will  be  especially  helpful  when  ordering  paper  for  singly  and 
multiple-page   letterheads. 


APPENDIX  B 

STANDARD  ENVELOPE  SIZES 

487.  While  these  sizes  are  not  uniform  with  all  manu- 
facturers, they  are  nearly  so  and  will  be  helpful  when 
planning  direct  advertising: 

Commercial 


Size  in  Inches 

Size  in  Inches 

No. 

3 

2«/8x4% 

No. 

4 

2%  X  51/4 

No. 

5 

3%  X  51/^ 

No. 

6 

3%  X  6 

No. 

6% 

3^/^x6 

No. 

m 

3%  X  61^ 

Official 


Size  in 

Size  in  Inches 

Inches 

No. 

7 

3%  X  6% 

No.  10* 

4V«x    91 1' 

No. 

7¥> 

3%  X  71/2 

No.  11* 

41/2  X  10% 

No. 

8I/2 

3%  X  8% 

No.  12* 

4%  X  11 

No. 

9*        J 

378  X  8% 

No.  14 

5     xlU^ 

*  Also  referred  to  as  "Legal"  envelopes. 

Baronial 


No.     4 

No.     5 


Size  in  Inches 


3%  X  411/16 
41/8  X  51/8 


No.  51/2 
No.  6 


Size  in 
Inches 


m  X  5% 
5    x6 


572 


STANDARD  ENVELOPE  SIZES 
Bank 


573 


Size  in  Inches 

Size  in 
Inches 

No.  6 
No.  7 

m  X  GVi 

45/16  X  TVs 

No.  8 

5    x7^ 
5x6 

Com 

No. 

1 

No. 

3 

No. 

41.4 

Size  in  Inches 


2%    x3l^ 
3       X  4% 


No.  5 
No.  51.4 


Drug 


Size  in 
Inches 


2%  x5y4 
SVs  x5^ 


No. 

No. 

1 
2 

m     x2% 
21/16  x3l4 

No.  3 

2%6  X  3% 

Pat 

No. 

2 

2^    x4y4 

No.  m 

29/l6  X  4 

Photograph 
(Open  End) 

Cabinet 

4i%6  X  7% 

Wide  Imperial  Cabinet 
Royal 

5%  X  7^/4 
51/4  X  8 

Portfolio 

No. 
No. 

1 
2 

5^2x8%                   No.  3 

eVi  X  8^/8 

eviex  99/16 

Catalogue 

No. 
No. 
No. 

1 

m 
1% 

6     x9 

6%  X  m 

6^x9^ 

No.  2 
No.  3 
No.  6 

6\^  xlO 
7      xlO 

71/4  xlO% 

574 


APPENDICES 


Gothic  Flaps 
(Low  pointed  flap — open  side) 


Regal 

3Vw  X  51/2 

Sultan 

3y2x6 

Malta 

3%  X  5-716 

Sovereign 

3%  X  6V2 

Winthrop 

3%  x5% 

Monarch 

3-/8  X  7^ 

Gladstone 

3%6  X  5%6 

"Wallet  Fi,aps 
(Square  flap — open  side) 


Theater  Ticket 


Lakewood 

3%  X  5^,16 

Lenox 

31/2  X  6 

Aylesford 

3%  x5% 

Court 

3%  X  Glii 

Astor 

3ri6  X  5^16 

Viceroy 

378  x7i^ 

Vogue 

3yi6  X  5^^ 

No.     3 


l"/46  X  47/16 


No.    4 


2y8x4% 


Policy 
(Open  and  Official) 


No.     9 
No.  10 


4x9 

m  X  9^ 


No.  11 


414  X  10% 


APPENDIX  0 


STANDARD  WEIGHTS,  SIZES,  AND  NAMES  OF  PAPERS 

488.  What  is  Meant  By  "Substance  Weight"  of  Paper. 
— About  the  latter  part  of  1916  the  paper  mills  throughout 
the  country  standardized  the  weights  of  bond  and  ledger 
papers,  using  as  a  basis  the  folio  sheet  (17  x  22). 

This  standardization  conforms  technically  to  standard 
substance  numbers  and  it  has  been  adopted  generally. 

Under  this  arrangement  the  standard  basic  weights  for 
folio  sheets  (17x22  inches)  are  13,  16,  20,  24,  28,  32,  36, 
40,  and  44  pounds  to  the  ream — 500  sheets.  The  substance 
number :  i.  e.,  the  weight  per  ream  folio,  is  now  universally 
used  to  indicate  the  basic  weight,  regardless  of  the  size  of 
the  sheet. 

For  example,  if  an  advertiser  using  a  sheet  of  bond  or 
ledger  paper,  17  x  22-20,  desires  to  supplement  this  with 
a  sheet  identical  in  thickness  and  weight  per  square 
INCH  but  of  the  size  19  x  24  inches,  he  will  order  the  same 
stock  size,  19  x  24,  No.  20 — 20  being  the  substance  num- 
ber used  to  designate  all  papers  of  20-pound  folio  weight. 

This  standardization  in  practical  operation  has  meant 
that  the  bond-paper  mills  concentrated  on  only  four  stand- 
ard thicknesses — substance  numbers,  13,  16,  20,  and  24.  It 
has  meant  to  the  advertiser  the  easier  figuring  of  paper 
stocks. 

489.  To  Find  the  Equivalent  Weight  of  Paper  in  An- 
other Size. — Suppose  you  have  a  ream  of  paper,  17  x  22, 
which  weighs  20  pounds,  what  would  be  the  weight  of  a 
ream  of  similar  paper  but  in  size  22x34? 

575 


576  APPENDICES 

You  work  it  out  this  way : 

17  X  22         :        22  X  34         : :        20  pounds         :         ?  pounds 
22  X  34  X  20 

=  40  pounds 

17X22 

Or.  take  another  example:  if  your  stock  is  24x36-20 
pounds,  what  is  the  equivalent  weight  in  size  32x44? 
24X    36=      864  sq.  in. 
32  X    44  =    1,408  sq.  in. 
1,408  X    20  =  28,160 
28,160-^864  =  32  512/864 

24  X    36  —  20  lbs.  is  equivalent  to  32  X  44  —  33  lbs. 

490.  Standard  Sizes  and  Weights  of  Bond  and  Writ- 
ing Papers. —  (a)  The  following  table  also  holds  true  of 
sizes  for  ledger  papers  (largely  used  for  account  books, 
statements  made  on  machines,  etc.),  though  there  are  also 
several  other  sizes  of  ledger  papers,  and  some  of  the  weights 
differ : 

Substance  Number 
Size  in  inches  13        16        20        24 

17  X  22      Pounds  per  ream  =  13        16        20        24 
22  X  34  "  "        "     =  26        32        40        48 

19  X  24  "         "        "    =16        191/2     241/2     291/2 

17  X  28  "         "        "    =  I6I/2     201/2     251/2     301/2 

(b)  Names  are  also  used  for  certain  sizes  of  bonds, 
writings,  and  ledger  papers,  but  the  use  of  names  has 
largely  been  replaced  by  standardized  sizes,  so  we  shall 
give  only  the  four  names  frequently  referred  to  at  this 
time,  with  the  corresponding  sizes : 

Folio    17  X  22  inches 

Double  cap   17  x  28 

Koyal  19  X  24 

Double  folio  22  x  34 


PAPER  STANDARDS 


577 


491.  Standard  Sizes  and  Weights  of  Cover  Papers. — 

It  is  only  within  the  last  year  (1920)  that  cover  papers 
have  been  restandardized  on  a  new  basis  as  follows: 


Size  in 

Inches  35 

20  X  26  Pounds  per  ream  =  35 

23  X  33  "    "   "  =51 

26  X  40  "    "  "  =70 


Substance  Number 

50         65         80       100  130 

50    65    80   100  130 

73    95   117   146  190 

100   150   160   200  260 


492.  Standard  Sizes  and  Weights  of  Book  Papers. — 

The  following  are  the  sizes  most  popular.  Several  other 
sizes  are  manufactured  and  where  the  run  is  sufficiently 
large  a  saving  can  sometimes  be  made  in  ordering  one  of 
the  odd  sizes  seldom  used  or  infrequently  made. 


Size  in 

Substance  Number 

Inches 

50 

60     70     80    90  100  110  120 

25  X  38 

Pounds  per  ream=   50 

60     70     80     90  100  110  120 

28  X  42 

u           u          u       ^    60 

70     80    90  100  110 

32  X  44 

"          «         u       __    yo 

80  -100  120  140 

38  X  50 

u          u         u       =100 

120  140  160  180  200  220  240 

493.  Standard  Bookbinders'  Sizes. — Occasionally  refer- 
ence is  made  to  bookbinders'  sizes.  The  following  are 
standard,  having  reference  to  the  actual  measurement  of 
the  boards: 


32mo 

3y8X    4% 

18mo 

37/8  X     61/8 

16mo 

41/4  X     67/8 

12mo 

4%  X    7% 

Crown 

8vo* 

51/2  X     83^ 

Regular 

8vo* 

6      X    9% 

Royal 

8vo* 

6%  X  10% 

Imperial 

8vo* 

71/,  X  11% 

Quarto 

81/4  X  12% 

Octavo. 


APPENDIX  D 

A  TYPICAL  MARKET  ANALYSIS 

494.  The  Part  an  Analysis  Plays. — As  we  found  set 
forth  in  Chapter  VIII,  the  effective  advertising  of  any 
product,  especially  a  new  one,  often  requires  exhaustive 
analysis  among  the  different  classes  of  trade  which  are  to 
be  influenced  by  the  direct  advertising — or  other  forms  for 
that  matter — or  which  will  be  affected  by  the  sales  and  ad- 
vertising policy. 

Often  such  an  analysis  not  only  determines  the  policy 
for  the  advertising,  but  may  decide  the  characteristics  of 
the  product  to  be  made,  its  method  of  packing  and  labeling, 
the  discounts  to  be  allowed  the  trade,  and  many  other  points 
that  it  is  well  to  solve  correctly  before  the  advertising  cam- 
paign starts  rather  than  to  make  changes  in  a  faulty  policy 
later  on. 

495.  A  Hypothetical  Investigation. — Through  the 
courtesy  of  A.  W.  Landsheft,  of  Buffalo,  we  will  illustrate 
what  we  mean  by  market  analysis  by  considering  a  hypo- 
thetical case  of  a  manufacturer  who  intends  to  make  a  soft 
drink  and  sell  it  nationally,  in  competition  with  the  only 
other  nationally  advertised  drink  of  the  same  kind  on  the 
market.  He  intends  to  make  his  drink  a  strictly  quality 
proposition,  selling  it  for  three  or  four  times  as  much  as 
the  local  bottler  gets  for  a  similar  beverage.  Let  us  sup- 
pose that  the  name  of  the  other  competing,  advertised  drink 
is  "Cold  Spray,"  and  that  it  can  be  used  not  only  by  itself 
but  for  compounding  with  other  drinks.  Also  let  us  assume 
that  this  manufacturer  is  to  meet  strong  competition  from 

foreign  beverages  of  the  same  kind,  put  up  in  distinctive 

578 


A  TYPICAL  MARKET  ANALYSIS  579 

foreign  containers.  The  question  in  Sections  496  to  500, 
inclusive,  will  bring  out  the  kind  of  information  such  a 
manufacturer  would  want,  we  believe. 

The  first  step  will  be  to  find  out  what  jobber  or  jobbers 
handle  Cold  Spray  in  Buffalo — the  city  we  are  investigat- 
ing— and  call  on  them. 

If  only  one  jobber  handles  Cold  Spray  in  Buffalo,  we 
will  have  to  find  out  if  it  is  because  the  Cold  Spray  peo- 
ple work  on  the  ''sole  distributor"  plan  or  whether  they 
get  other  jobbers  in  Buffalo  if  they  can. 

496.  Questions  to  Ask  the  Jobber  in  Market  Analysis. 
— The  following  questions,  of  course,  do  not  apply  for  every 
line  of  business  but  are  the  ones  which  might  be  used  to 
uncover  data  asked  for  in  the  questions  raised  in  Section 
495. 

What  is  the  proportion  of  your  sales  to  retail  dealers  and 
what  proportion  to  hotels'? 

Do  the  Cold  Spray  people  sell  direct  to  large  hotels  or 
through  the  distributor? 

Does  the  Cold  Spray  Company  sell  wholesale  beverage 
houses  direct  or  through  the  distributor? 

To  what  kind  of  stores  do  you  sell  Cold  Spray,  and  how 
many  of  each  kind? 

Get  statistics  to  find  out  how  many  stores  of  each  kind 
there  are  in  the  city,  to  determine  their  percentage  of  dis- 
tribution in  each  class. 

Which  store  classes  buy  most  ? 

In  what  sections  of  the  city  are  most  of  the  stores  lo- 
cated to  which  you  sell  Cold  Spray? 

How  do  your  sales  run  by  seasons — spring,  summer,  fall, 
winter? 

What  advertising  methods  have  the  Cold  Spray  people 
used  to  introduce  their  product  to  retail  stores,  etc.,  and  to 
the  consumer? 

How  is  Cold  Spray  packed? 

At  what  price  does  it  sell  to  the  trade — what  is  the  resale 
price  ? 

Do  the  Cold  Spray  people  work  on  any  sliding  scale  of 
discount,  depending  on  the  quantity  bought  in  a  given 
period? 


580  APPENDICES 

497.  Questions  to  Ask  the  Retail   Dealers. — It  is,  of 

course,  patent  that  some  of  these  questions,  as  well  as  some 
of  those  in  the  preceding  section,  are  never  asked;  they  are 
answered  from  other  sources  of  information : 

How  long  have  you  handled  Cold  Spray? 

How  much  do  you  sell? 

How  does  the  trade  run  by  seasons'? 

Have  you  noticed  a  consistent  increase  in  sales  after  Cold 
Spray  is  once  introduced  and  becomes  known  to  your  trade? 

Do  you  find  that  sales  of  Cold  Spray  show  a  consistent 
increase  and  also  find  that  the  line  is  a  successful  one  to 
handle? 

Do  you  think  that  your  customers  have  noticed  the  differ- 
ence in  quality  between  Cold  Spray  and  the  ordinary  drink 
of  the  same  kind  and  for  this  reason  have  asked  for  it? 

What  advertising  methods  have  the  Cold  Spray  people 
employed  to  introduce  the  beverage  to  the  trade? 

If  you  sell  to  two  kinds  of  neighborhoods,  high-class  resi- 
dential and  secondary  residential,  which  class  buys  the  most — 
just  how  do  your  sales  ''break'  to  these  two  classes? 

How  much  Cold  Spray  do  you  sell  in  a  year? 

In  what  quantities  do  you  buy  Cold  Spray? 

What  is  your  profit?  Do  you  consider  that  profit  fair 
and  reasonable? 

In  your  opinion,  is  most  of  the  Cold  Spray  you  sell  used 
straight  as  a  beverage  or  for  mixed  drinks? 

Have  you  any  suggestions  on  how  a  manufacturer  of  a 
drink  such  as  Cold  Spray  could  help  you  to  sell  more  of  his 
product  to  your  trade? 

498.  Questions  to  Ask  the  Hotels,  Cafes,  and  Other 
Distributors  of  That  Class. — These  questions  offer  sugges- 
tions apropos  a  long  line  of  products  as  well  as  a  soft  drink ; 
hotels,  cafes,  puUman  cars,  etc.,  distribute  a  wide  range 
of  products  nowadays. 

Why  do  you  serve  a  beverage  of  the  character  of  Cold 
Spray? 

Is  it  because  of  any  real  distinction  of  quality  that  the 
patron  is  able  to  detect? 

Do  you  serve  Cold  Spray  because  of  the  appearance  of  the 
container? 


A  TYPICAL  MARKET  ANALYSIS  581 

Is  one  of  your  reasons  for  selling  it  high  carbonation  or  the 
permanency  of  the  sparkle? 

Do  you  serve  it  because  it  is  advertised  and  for  that  reason 
is  in  public  favor? 

How  much  do  you  pay  for  Cold  Spray — for  the  ordinary 
beverage  of  the  same  kind? 

What  is  your  opinion  of  the  comparative  quality  of  Cold 
Spray  and  an  imported  beverage  of  a  similar  kind?  Just 
how  would  you  describe  the  difference,  if  any? 

What  do  you  pay  for  an  imported  beverage  of  the  same 
type? 

Why  do  you  serve  it? 

Do  you  think  the  popularity  of  imported  beverages  of  the 
character  of  Cold  Spray  is  due  to  a  craze  for  something 
'"imported"  or  because  of  real  discrimination  on  the  part  of 
the  public  to  be  able  to  tell  that  the  imported  beverage  is 
better? 

Do  you  find  that  advertising  of  a  product  materially  helps 
your  trade  or  do  you  consider  that  the  prestige  of  your  insti- 
tution, which  gives  a  product  your  personal  recommendation, 
is  more  important? 

Supposing  a  manufacturer  were  to  make  a  beverage  of  the 
character  of  Cold  Spray  superior  to  any  imported  article, 
put  it  up  as  fancy  as  the  imported  articles  and  make  his 
labels  and  everything  about  his  package  carry  the  foreign 
look,  do  you  think  he  could  switch  the  preference  for  the 
foreign  article  to  his  product,  providing  he  backed  it  up  with 
a  strong  campaign  of  advertising? 

499.  Questions  to  Bottlers. — Where  a  converter  steps  in 
the  chain  of  sale  you  have  a  situation  like  the  bottler  in  the 
beverage  business,  and  so  these  questions  will  be  helpful. 

Do  the  Cold  Spray  people  put  up  their  drink  in  extract 
form? 

Do  you  use  this  extract  and  compound  the  beverage  your- 
self? 

Do  you  consider  that  you  can  get  as  good  results  this  way 
as  the  Cold  Spray  people  do? 

Investigator  should  try  Cold  Spray  made  from  tlie  extract 
by  bottlers  and  that  put  up  in  bottles  by  the  Cold  Spray 
people  and  see  if  he  can  detect  the  difference.  Investigator 
may  also  ask  several  friends  to  make  the  same  test. 


582  APPENDICES 

500.  Questions  for  Consumers. — Of  course  extreme  care 
must  be  used  in  asking  anyone  questions  in  a  trade  or 
market  analysis,  otherwise  the  very  manner  of  asking  the 
question  will  bring  back  the  answer  you  wish  instead  of  the 
facts.  This  care  must  be  exercised  even  more  when  asking 
consumers  who  have  little  or  no  interest  in  your  product : 

Do  you  drink  a  beverage  of  the  nature  of  Cold  Spray? 

Do  all  the  members  of  the  family  drink  it? 

Do  you  prefer  any  other  soft  drink? 

Do  you  serve  it  only  when  "company"  calls,  or  is  it  served 
to  the  family  at  all  times? 

How  often  do  you  serve  it?  Do  you  ever  serve  it  with 
meals  ? 

How  often  do  you  buy  it,  and  in  what  quantities? 

From  whom  do  you  buy? 

How  many  different  makes  of  beverages  of  the  nature  of 
Cold  Spray  have  you  tried? 

Which  do  you  like  the  best? 

Why  do  you  prefer  it? 

What  points  appeal  to  you  most  in  a  beverage  of  the  char- 
acter of  Cold  Spray — 

1.  Strength. 

2.  Medium  strength. 

3.  Mildness. 

4.  Pronounced  natural  flavor. 

5.  Fruity  flavor. 

6.  High  carbonation  or  sparkle. 

Do  you  use  anything  similar  to  Cold  Spray  for  mixed 
drinks  or  do  you  drink  that  itself  as  a  beverage? 

Do  you  or  any  members  of  your  family  ever  order  a  bev- 
erage of  the  character  of  Cold  Spray  at  soda  fountains, 
cafes,  etc.? 

Do  you  or  they  specify  the  make?  If  so,  what  make  and 
why? 


APPENDIX  E 


A  TEST  CHART  OR  YARDSTICK  FOR  DIRECT  ADVERTISING 


501.  A  Chart  that  Will  Help  You  to  Check  Up  Both 
Plan  and  Copy. — Through  the  cooperation  of  the  Ross- 
Gould'  Company,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  we  are  able  to  reproduce 
the  following  time-tested  yardstick  or  cheek-up  chart  for 
direct  advertising.  It  may  be  used  in  checking  up  both 
copy  and  the  plan  itself. 


THE   PROPOSITION 

Make  it: 
Attractive. 
Exclusive. 
Superior. 
Impelling. 

STATEMENT  OP  THE  PROPOSITION 

Make  it: 
Clear. 
Attractive. 
Convincing. 
Concise. 

TERMS     OP     PAYMENT     AND     DE- 
LIVERY 

Make  them  as : 
Attractive, 
Different, 
Acceptable 
— as  possible. 

SEQUENCE    OF    PRESENTATION 

Put  it  in  the  order  of : 
1.  Attracting  attention. 


583 


2.  Arousing  interest. 

3.  Creating  desire. 

4.  Convincing  judgment. 

5.  Securing  action. 

ATTENTION 

Use  one  or  more  of: 
Isolation. 

Perception  of  advantage. 
Novelty  of: 

Idea. 

Statement. 

Form. 

Proposition. 

INTEREST 

Use  one  or  more  of: 
Human  appeal. 
Self-interest    (reader's). 
Promise    of    satisfying    in 
best  manner  some  strong 
need    or    desire    of    the 

reader. 
Interesting  style. 


584 


APPENDICES 


DESIRE 

Copy  should  strongly  depict: 
Pleasure  of  gratification. 
Pain  of  denial,  or  both. 

JUDGMENT 

(Intellectual  doubts) 
Copy  should  remove  skepti- 
cism by: 
Recommendations. 
Testimonials. 
Guaranties. 
Money-back  offers. 
Trial  offers. 
Demonstrations. 
Samples. 
Explanation     of    working 

details. 
Length  of  service. 
Offers  to  prove. 
Comparisons. 
Reputation  of  seller. 
Prominence  of  users. 
Number  of  users. 

OBJECTIONS 

Copy  should  answer  such  ob- 
iections  as: 
"Won't,"  "Can't," 

"Oughtn't  to"  buy  this. 
Cite: 
Price,  Value  Terms, 
Credit,  Discount, 
Premium,  Exchange 
Privilege, 
Extra  Service — 
repairs,  etc. 
Anticipate  other  vital  objec- 
tions,   since   piece    has   no 
chance  to  answer  objections 
like  the  personal  salesman 
has. 


ACTION 

Make    it    desirable    to    act 

quickly  by: 
Special  offers. 
Time  limit. 
Quantity  limit. 
Prizes. 
Premiums. 
Make  it  easy  to  act  quickly 

by: 
Return  envelopes. 
Reburn  cards. 
Order  blanks. 
Specific    suggestions   what 

to  say  or  do. 

LINP  OF  LEAST  RESISTANCE 

Make  everything  as  easy  to 

do  as  possible. 
Easy  reading. 
Easy  understanding. 
Easy  action. 
Easy  pay. 

PRINCIPLES     OP     FAVORABLE    IM- 
PRESSION 

Create  most  favorable  at- 
mosphere in  copy  as  a 
whole  and  in  each  part. 

PRINCIPLES  OF  HARMONY 

Fitness   of: 
Language, 
Appeal, 
Paper, 
Art,  etc., 
To  the   character  of  the: 

Prospect. 

Proposition. 

Seller. 

Time. 

Place. 


A  TEST  CHART  ON  YARDSTICK 


585 


HUMAN   PREDJUDICES 

Avoid : 
Egotism. 

Rank  exaggeration. 
Debatable  statements. 
Prejudices  peculiar  to  class 
addressed,      such      as 
those  of: 
Age. 

Nationality. 
Sex. 

Occupation. 
Social  status. 

CONDENSATION 

Elimination  of: 
Verbosity. 
Tautology. 
Irrelevancy. 
Undue  repetition  of 
thought. 

CORRECTNESS  OF  LANGUAGE  AND 
FORM 

.  Grammar. 
Orthography. 
Punctuation. 
Paragraphing. 


Form  of  arrangement. 
Correct  use  of  figurative  lan- 
guage : 

Similes. 

Metaphors. 

Antitheses,  etc. 

GENERAL   TONE 

Natural. 

Strong. 

Positive. 

Convincing. 

Impelling. 

STYLE 

Bright. 
Interesting. 
Rapid,  or 
Learned,  or 
Impressive, 
according  to  proposition. 

OTHER   CONSIDERATIONS 

(Other  similar  considerations 
as  to  copy  and  plans  aris- 
ing from  special  require- 
ments of  each  individual 
case. ) 


502.  Advertising  Efficiency  Tests. — A  part  of  the 
working  equipment  of  the  writer  is  a  miniature  booklet  pub- 
lished years  ago  by  the  Burroughs  Adding  Machine  Com- 
pany. It  has  been  used  until  it  is  literally  falling  to  pieces 
as  this  is  written.  The  writer  believes  the  tests  it  contains 
should,  for  their  helpfulness,  be  recorded  here : 

Is  It  "Natural"? — Copy  must  talk  as  the  best  salesman 
would  talk  if  he  were  presenting  the  argument  you  are 
going  to  make.  Therefore  talk  not  as  a  dictionarj^,  but  talk 
as  a  man,  sincerely,  pointedly,  and  in  a  way  to  reflect  the 
style  of  the  self-respecting  men  of  this  Company. 

Does  It  Have  a  "Point"  of  Contact? — When  you  write 
copy  to  a  small  retailer,  don't  talk  to  him  about  loose-leaf 
ledgers,    departmental    forms,    statistical    comparisons,    etc., 


586  APPENDICES 

but  find  out  what  his  bookkeeping  troubles  are.  Get  the 
point  of  contact,  by  showing  him  you  understand  his  trou- 
bles, and  have  a  remedy  that  is  cheap  and  effective. 

*'Old"  Friends  and  New. — Before  you  put  any  money 
and  time  on  developing  a  new  idea  for  an  advertisement, 
look  over  every  piece  of  advertising  we  have,  to  see  if  the 
new  idea  is  sufficiently  different  from  what  we  have,  to  make 
it  worth  while.  Don't  waste  your  time  duplicating  adver- 
tising which  while  old  to  us  is  new  to  the  man  who  never 
saw  it. 

Is  It  "Specific"? — Every  piece  of  copy  must  be  specific, 
not  only  in  the  claims  it  makes  for  the  Company,  or  for  the 
Machines,  but  in  the  point  of  attack;  that  is  to  say,  you 
must  select  some  specific  thing  about  the  kind  of  business  you 
are  approaching. 

Know  something  about  that  business,  then  hitch  that 
knowledge  of  the  P.  B.'s  condition  up  to  your  own.  The 
advertisement  must  deal  with  these  conditions  as  they  are, 
and  not  as  they  ought  to  be. 

Is  It  "Timely"? — The  advertisement  must  be  timely,  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  man  to  whom  you  are  speaking.  If 
you  are  dealing  with  inventories,  find  out  what  time  of  the 
year  the  business  makes  its  inventories.  See  that  the  copy  is 
in  harmony  with  the  present  conditions  in  the  line  of  busi- 
ness to  which  you  are  appealing,  and  don't  be  afraid  to  send 
out  letters  asking  for  information  from  our  Users  in  the  lines 
of  business  you  wish  to  interest. 

"Singleness"  of  Proposition. — Never  write  an  adver- 
tisement until  you  have  a  clean-cut  idea  of  what  you  want 
to  accomplish.  We  have  no  money  to  spend  on  mere  words. 
Get  clear  in  your  mind  what  particular  thing  you  wish  to 
accomplish — then  stick  to  that  one  thing  from  start  to  fin- 
ish. Don't  start  out  with  a  talk  about  time-saving  in  a 
retail  store,  and  end  up  with  a  hallelujah  chorus  on  "how  big 
we  are." 

Can  You  'Trove"  It? — In  other  words,  is  it  authori- 
tative? Get  your  facts  so  that  you  can  drive  them  home. 
Don't  be  knocked  off  your  feet  by  competition.  Assume  that 
your  mission  is  best — talk  as  if  it  were  best — believe  that  it 
is  best,  and  be  prepared  to  back  it  up.  Be  confident  in  Avhat 
you  say,  but  don't  be  boastful.     Be  proud  of  the  record  of 


A  TEST  CHART  ON  YARDSTICK  587 

our  Company,  but  don't  attempt  to  overwhelm  a  man  with 
big  type  and  facts  he  cannot  comprehend. 

Does  It  "Conform"  to  the  "Policy"  op  the  House? — 
Every  concern,  including  this  one,  has  a  policy,  more  or 
less  well  defined.  This  policy  is  expressed  in  the  unrecorded 
sentiments  and  attitude  of  the  House,  of  the  Directors  and 
the  Managers.  This  policy  should  be  reflected  in  the  adver- 
tising because  it  gives  it  a  personality. 

Would  You  "Believe"  It? — Good  advertising  has  an 
element  of  what  is  called  plausibility — that  is  to  say,  it  ringB 
true.  It  is  a  quality  which  makes  people  believe  what  you 
say.  It  doesn't  talk  as  though  you  were  blufl&ng,  or  as  if 
you  were  trying  to  make  a  big  effect  out  of  a  little  fact. 
Therefore,  write  your  copy  so  that  it  sounds  plausible.  A  * 
good  way  to  test  plausibility  is  to  read  it  to  somebody.  If 
he  asks,  "Is  that  so?" — then  rewrite  your  copy. 

"Show"  the  Goods. — We  are  advertising  Burroughs 
Bookkeeping  Machines — that  is  our  limitation — just  as  there 
must  be  a  frame  to  every  picture,  so  there  must  be  a  picture 
of  a  Burroughs  in  every  advertisement  we  issue.  We  want 
publicity  for  the  machine,  whether  any  one  reads  the  adver- 
tisement  or  not. 

The  difference  between  advertising  and  publicity  is:  ad- 
vertising makes  you  think — publicity  makes  you  see. 

The  writer  presumes  these  were  the  product  of  E.  St. 
Elmo  Lewis  and'  if  so  makes  acknowledp:ment  here  to  what 
these  tests  have  meant  to  him  over  a  period  of  many  years. 


APPENDIX  F 

STANDARD  SPECIFICATIONS  FOR  ORDERING  PRINTING 

503.  Specifications  Eliminate  Altercations. — Too  fre- 
quently a  printer  is  asked  to  estimate  on  a  job  of  printing 
and  has  no  idea  just  what  he  is  going  to  furnish.  The 
client  may  have  an  even  more  hazy  idea.  Where  printing 
is  ordered  according  to  specifications,  clear  and  explicit  in 
every  detail,  there  are  no  possible  grounds  for  errors,  mis- 
understandings, or  altercations. 

The  following  is  a  standard  form  of  specification  used 
when  competitive  bids  are  asked  for  by  an  advertiser: 


SPECIFICATIONS   FOR   PRINTING 

Art  Steel  Company 

New  York  City 


Art  Steel  Co.,  New 


Subject:  "Art  Steel  Age,"  No.  10. 

York,  N.  Y. 
Size:  6x9  inches,  upright. 

Pages:  24  pages  with  flush  cover. 

Stock:  Inside  pages:  Dill  &  Collins  Co.'s  India  Tint, 

coated  two  sizes,  25  x  38 — 80  lbs.  Eagle-A 
Paradox  "Fox  Brown,"  20  x  26. 

IllustrAxIONS  :  As  per  dummy  layout,  made  from  photos  sup- 
plied by  us,  retouched  in  the  best  possible 
manner  to  bring  out  the  details  of  the  sub- 
jects; all  art  work  to  have  our  final  0.  K.  be- 
fore plates  are  made.  Half-tones  to  be  133- 
screen,  deeply  etched  and  well  finished,  square 
or  vignette,  as  indicated  in  dummy;  lino 
588 


STANDARD  SPECIFICATIONS 


589 


plates  to  be  deeply  etched  on  copper;  sizes 
of  all  plates  to  be  as  indicated  in  dummy. 

Cover  Design  :  To  be  selected  from  sketch  submitted  by  suc- 
cessful bidder,  such  sketch  to  be  made  to  meet 
our  approval  and  the  final  drawing  to  have  our 
O.  K.  before  plates  are  made. 

Composition  :  (Inside)  :  Inside  pages  to  be  in  accordance  with 
dummy  layout ;  type  page  to  be  4  x  7  inches, 
surrounded  with  page  rule  41/2  x  7^^  inches ; 
folio  number  outside  of  rule;  type  face  of 
text  10-point  Caslon  old  style;  captions  for 
plates  to  be  in  8-point  Caslon  old  style ;  head- 
ings and  subheadings  to  be  in  larger  size 
heavy-faced  type  of  appropriate  style,  upper 
and  lower  case;  logotype  of  words  "Art 
Steel"  to  be  used  wherever  these  words  ap- 
pear in  text,  or  captions,  or  heads;  printer  to 
submit  a  specimen  page  showing  type,  border, 
and  layout  for  our  approval  before  proceed- 
ing  with    all    the    composition. 

Composition  :  ( Cover)  :  Second,  third,  and  fourth  cover 
pages  to  be  blank ;  front  cover  to  be  embossed 
from  plates  made  from  approved  cover  de- 
sign. 

Press  Work:  Inside  pages:  two  colors;  all  type  matter  and 
plates  to  be  in  black;  page  border  in  a  tint 
to  be  selected  by  us  from  sample  pages  sub- 
mitted. Cover:  to  be  embossed  and  printed 
in  two  colors,  to  be  selected  from  samples 
submitted. 

Proofs:  Three  sets  of  all  proofs  to  be  submitted  to  us, 

press  proofs  to  be  shown  for  our  0.  K.  before 
the  job  is  run. 

Binding:  Saddle-stitched  with  two  wires. 

Wrapping:  To  be  wrapped  in  packages  of  100,  with  title 

and  quantity  marked  on  wrapper. 

Delivery:  At  our  office,  471  Fourth  Ave.,  New  York.     15 

days. 

Quantity:  Ten  thousand  (10,000);  proportional  allowance 


590 


APPENDICES 


to  be  made  for  over-run  or  under-run  not  to 
exceed  10  per  cent. 

Quality:  The  best  quality  of  work  is  required  through- 

out. 

Price  :  Quotations  to  be  made  as  follows : 

(a)  On  job  as  here  specified  complete. 

(b)  Allowance  if  only  one  color  is  used  on 

inside  pages. 

(c)  Allowance  if  cover  is  not  embossed. 

Bidder  to  state  hour  rate  for  author's  altera- 
tions, both  hand  and  machine,  state- 
ment of  such  charges  to  be  submitted 
with  each  set  of  proofs. 


BIBLOGRAPHY  AND  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

504.  Bibliography. — Prior  to  this  work,  but  three  books 
devoted  to  the  subject  of  direct  advertising  have  been  pub- 
lished : 

"Building  your  Business  by  Mail,"  by  W.  G.  Clifford, 
now  being  sold  by  Addressograph  Company,  Chicago,  111, 
448  pages. 

''Intensive  Selling,"  by  I'lint  McNaughton,  published  by 
Selling  Aid,  Chicago.     144  pages. 

"Principles  and  Practice  of  Direct  Advertising,"  an  ad- 
vertising book  of  190  pages,  by  Charles  A.  MacFarlane,  was 
published  in  1915  bj^  the  Beckett  Paper  Company,  Hamil- 
ton, Ohio,  but  we  understand  that  it  is  now  out  of  print. 

Valuable  references  or  chapters  on  direct  advertising  will 
be  found  in  the  following  works : 

Unit  X  of  complete  Business  English  course  of  the  Busi- 
ness Training  Corporation,  New  York,  is  devoted  to  the 
subject  of  direct  advertising.  With  the  exception  of  one 
chapter  on  letter-writing  by  Bruce  Barton,  the  entire  unit 
was  written  by  the  author  of  this  work. 

"Advertising — Its  Principles  and  Practice,"  by  Tipper- 
Hollingworth-Hotchkiss  and  Parsons,  published  by  the  Ron- 
ald Press  Company,  New  York,  579  pages,  a  very  complete 
and  desirable  work. 

"Productive  Advertising,"  by  Herbert  W.  Hess,  pub- 
lished by  J.  B.  Lippincott  Company,  Philadelphia.  358 
pages. 

"The  Business  of  Advertising,"  Earnest  Elmo  Calkins, 
published  by  D.  Appleton  &  Company,  New  York.  363 
pages. 

"Advertising  and  Selling  Practice,"  by  John  B.  Opdycke, 
published  by  A.  W.  Shaw  Company,  Chicago.     206  pages. 

591 


592  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

"Making  More  Out  of  Advertising-,"  by  Wheeler  Sam- 
mons,  published  by  A.  W.  Shaw  Company,  Chicago.  Deals 
largely  with  retail  advertising.     241  pages. 

"1919  Year  Book  Direct  Mail  Advertising  Association," 
published  by  the  Association,  now  out  of  print.  (Reports 
the  October  [1918]   Chicago  convention.) 

"1920  Year  Book  Direct  Mail  Advertising  Association," 
published  for  the  Association  by  Cleveland  Printing  Com- 
pany, Cleveland,  Ohio.  Price  $3.  Copies  available  as  this 
is  printed.  (Reports  October  [1919]  Cleveland  conven- 
tion.) 

"1921  Year  Book  Direct  Mail  Advertising  Association," 
published  by  the  Association,  770  Penobscot  Bldg.,  Detroit, 
Mich.     (Reports  the  October   [1920]   Detroit  convention.) 

"More  Business  Through  Postcards"  by  Flint  McNaugh- 
ton,  published  by  Selling  Aid,  Chicago.  40  pages.  This 
booklet  discusses  at  length  the  problem  of  "come-backs" 
and  how  to  bring  them  back. 

"Advertising  a  Technical  Product,"  by  Sloan  and 
Mooney,  published  by  McGraw-Hill  Book  Company,  New 
York.  This  book  makes  some  very  helpful  suggestions  with 
regard  to  direct  advertising  for  the  technical  field.  365 
pages. 

Among  the  books  which  will  be  of  great  help  to  the  user 
or  producer  of  direct  advertising  are : 

"Typography  of  Advertisements  That  Pay,"  Gilbert  P. 
Farrar,  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  New  York.     282  pages. 

"Handbook  of  Business  English,"  Hotchkiss  and  Kilduff. 

"Making  Type  Work,"  Benjamin  Sherbow. 

"Business  Letter  Writing,"  Alexander  M.  Candee. 

The  writer  of  this  work  is  also  the  author  of  the  "Di- 
rect Advertising"  lesson  and  lecture  used  by  the  Interna- 
tional Correspondence  Schools  in  their  complete  advertising 
course.     It  is  not  sold  separately. 

505.  Acknowledgments. — The  author  records  with  deep 
and  sincere  appreciation  the  invaluable  assistance  received 
from  the  files  of  such  publications  as  Printers'  Ink,  Mailhaq, 
Advertising  &   Selling,  Postage,   System,  Judicious  A'i- 


AND  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS  593 

vertising,  Inland  Printer,  Printing  Art,  American  Printer, 
National  Printer- Journalist,  Direct  Advertising ,  Sales  Man- 
agement, Sales  Manager  Monthly,  Associated  Advertising, 
Marketing,  Printers'  Ink  Monthly,  and  permission  to  re- 
produce therefrom,  as  well  as  a  large  number  of  helpful 
house  organs  including  Ideas,  Knowledge,  Paragrafs,  Acorn, 
The  Informant,  and  others. 

I  wish  also  to  make  acknowledgment  not  only  to  all  of 
the  present  and  past  boards  of  governors  of  the  Direct 
Mail  Advertising  Association,  with  which  I  have  had  the 
privilege  and  honor  of  being  associated  for  the  past  six 
years,  but  also  to  record  my  special  indebtedness  to  Albert 
Highton,  as  set  forth  in  the  foreword,  as  well  as  to  the 
following  individuals :  Homer  J.  Buckley,  Professor 
George  Burton  Hotchkiss,  John  H.  Clayton,  Flint  Mc- 
Naughton,  John  McCartan,  Brad  Stephens,  Louis  Victor 
Eytinge,  E.  E.  Keough,  Noble  T.  Praigg,  C.  W.  Dearden, 
C.  H.  Barr,  Charles  Henry  Mackintosh,  L.  B.  Springsteen, 
George  B.  Sharpe,  Herbert  0.  Ross,  Almon  W.  Spaulding, 
0.  C.  Harn,  James  H.  Buswell,  George  Wilford  Freeman, 
Joseph  B.  IVIills,  Professor  E.  J.  Kilduff,  Benjamin  Sher- 
bow,  S.  Roland  Hall,  F.  C.  Drew,  William  E.  Kier,  Frank 
Hubbell,  Tim  Thrift,  R.  N.  Fellows,  Charles  Francis,  and 
Robert  C.  Fay,  each  of  whom  has  given  especial  help  by 
constructive  suggestions  and  in  some  instances  has  care- 
fully analyzed  an  advance  outline  of  the  book  itself. 

My  thanks  are  also  due  to  the  thousands  of  users  and  pro- 
ducers of  direct  advertising  whom  I  have  met  at  conven- 
tions and  those  who  have  been  introduced  to  me  "by  mail." 
"We  are  all  part  of  whom  and  what  we  have  met";  they 
have  taught  me  much. 


INDEX 


[The  references  are  to  pages.     All  illustrations  indexed  alphabetically 
under  Illustration.] 


Absence  of  returns  may  indicate 
success    in    appeal,    147. 

AcknowJedjgments,    593. 

Acme  Motor  Truck  Co.,  use  of 
humor    in    booklet,    282. 

Action,  a  letter  which  brought 
70  per  cent.,  557. 

Address,  card  formation,  exam- 
ple, 75;  handAvritten,  adds 
personal  touch,  414. 

Addresses,  cost  of  typewriting, 
41G;  handwritten,  415;  metal- 
plate,  415;  paper-stencil,  415; 
third-class  mailin'gs  require 
street,    120;    typewritten,    415. 

Addressing,  and  distributing, 
413-424;  by  metal-plate  ma- 
chine, 415;  by  paper-stencil 
machine,  415;  correct,  pays, 
413;  filing  plates',  415;  four 
general  methods  of,  414;  rules 
for,  119;  "the  neck  of  the 
bottle"    in    reproduction,    413. 

Addressograph  Co.,  catalogue,  01. 

Adler,  David,  Sons  &  Co.,  port- 
folio (The  (Spring  Advertising 
Drive),  64;  representative  re- 
sults  on    return   card,    316. 

Advance,  cards,  for  salesmen,  75, 
105;  "paving  the'  way"  by 
salesmen's,  471;  mailings^ 
strategy  of,  210. 

Advantages  of  direct  advertising, 
23. 

Advertisers,  human-interest  ap- 
peal  from   standpoint   of,    277. 

Advertising,  agency  and  direct 
advertising  counsel,  199; 
agent,  services  of  an,  182; 
cards,  folded,  447 ;  cooperative 
educational,  199;  copy,  "free- 
lance" writer  as  a  producer  of 
direct,    195;    educational,     12; 


595 


educational,  classes  of,  14; 
efficiency  tests,  "  586-8»;  man, 
seeks  advice  of,  197 ;  media 
through  checks.  111;  men, 
"free-lance,"  184;  periodical, 
for  building  up  mailing  list, 
128;  preliminary  study  of,  12; 
publicity,  12;  reason  for  Mar- 
shall, Field  &  Go's  domina- 
tion in,  339;  relative  impor- 
tance of  various  media,  22 ; 
schemes,  banks  the  victims  of, 
514;  terms,  difficulty  of  defin- 
ing, 39 ;  to  ttie  distributor, 
value  of  the  manufacturer's, 
496-7. 

Advice,  of  advertising  man,  seek, 
197;  to  writer  of  advertising 
c-opy,  280-7. 

Agents,  distribution  through, 
422 ;  purchasing,  standardized 
sizes    of   catalogues   for,   63. 

Aim  or  purpose,  analysis  of,  213. 

Aims  or  purposes,  examples 
of,  221. 

Allowance,  printing-shop  waste, 
382-3. 

Almanacs,  description  of,  54; 
standard  sizes,  569-70. 

Altercations  eliminated  by  spe- 
cifications, 589-91. 

Alwood,  Dister  R.,  more  inquir- 
ies   through    better    title,    288. 

American,  Institute  of  Archi- 
tects "standardized"  size  for 
catalogues,  63 ;  Wholesale 
Corp.,  cost  of  selling,  157; 
Writing  Paper  Company's  en- 
dorsement of  printers'  and 
consumers'    cooperation,    201. 

Analysis,  close,  and  best  results 
analogous,  143;  in  advance  of 
possible   success   through  tests, 


596 


INDEX 


241;  of  aim  or  purpose,  213; 
of  appeal,  120;  of  appeal  to  be 
used,  222;  of  effect  of  physical 
and  mechanical  factors,  239- 
40;  of  human-interest  copy, 
270;  of  market  and  marketing 
policies  precedes  decision  as  to 
purpose,  210;  of  names  for 
list,  120;  of  probable  results 
in  a  campaign,  145;  questions 
to  ask  the  jobber  in  market, 
580-1;  the  part  played  by  an, 
579-80. 

Announcements  through  use  of 
mailing  Cards  and  circulars, 
81. 

Answering'  inquiries,  249-50, 
454,    485-6. 

Antique    cover    paper,    378-9. 

Appeal,  an  effective  single-letter, 
537-8;  a  personal,  that 
swaniped  a  firm  with  returns, 
553;  board  covers  as  a  physi- 
cal, 170;  continued,  compared 
with  the  "follow-up,"  238; 
cut-out  meclianical,  when  to 
use  it,  313;  distribution  of  the, 
306;  does  it  pay  to  personalize 
the,  228 ;  Imman-interest,  from 
standpoint  of  advertiser,  227; 
in  connection  with  trade-paper 
advertising,  using  the  humor- 
ous, 483-5;  making  the  same 
personal,  to  men  and  women— 
a  comparison,  551-2;  mental, 
requires  mechanical  planning, 
302;  method  of  changing,  by 
change  of  physical  form,  253; 
miniature  booklets  possess  in- 
timate, 240;  most  copy  par- 
takes of  all  five  forms  of, 
279-81;  of  blotter  universal, 
105;  personal,  in  direct  adver- 
tising, 142;  of  picture  univer- 
sal, 339;  relation  of  physical 
and  mechanical  factors  to. 
2.39 :  service  to  strengthen  phy- 
sical, 175:  success  of,  may  be 
indicated  by  absence  of  returns, 
147;  timing  the,  235;  timing 
the,  with  length  of  campaign, 
238;    to   be   used,    analysis   of, 


222;  to  children,  how  pictures 
can  be  used  to,  567 ;  to  men, 
how  Marshall,  Field  &  Co., 
548-9 ;  to  senses  of  emotion, 
methods  of  making,  277 ;  to 
women  as  to"  men,  making  the 
same  i)ersonal,  554-0;  unity  of, 
205;  variations  of  the  personal, 
229;  when  to  use  the  human- 
interest,    270. 

Appealing  to,  brides,  559;  chil- 
dren, what  one  bank  accom- 
plished in,  505-6;  right  pros- 
pects, 121 ;  women,  the  recipe 
book  a  standby  in,  550-7. 

Appeals-,  effective,  to  technical 
men,  545-0 ;  made  personalized 
are  most  effective  campaigns, 
225;  must  be  changed  to  avoid 
monotony,  253;  of  various 
colors,  psychological,  355-6; 
"outside,"  kinds  of,  161;  to 
architects,    additional,    545. 

Appel,  H.  M.,  locating  customers 
by    direct   advertising,    531. 

Apperson  Brothers  Auto.  Co., 
portfolio.  04. 

Appropriation,  method  of  keep- 
ing   up    with,    425. 

Appropriations,  percentages  of, 
in  direct  advertising,   22. 

Architect,  direct  advertising 
effective  in  reaching  the,  543-4; 
how  humor  appeals  effectively 
to   the,    544. 

Architects,  additional  appeals  to, 
545;     size    of    catalogue,     63. 

Arguments,  colors  to  reinforce 
specific,   3.")6. 

Armour  &  Co.,  booklet,  54; 
handling  lists,  138;  use  of 
direct    advertising,    17. 

Arousing  interest  by  copy,  269- 
70. 

ArrangenTent,  of  special  pages, 
332;  orderly,  of  typography, 
330 ;   "stepped,"   of  pages,  303. 

Arrows    aid    reader,    345. 

Art  ;Metal  Construction  Co., 
book.  54;  catalogue  (Book  of 
Better   Business),   pocket   size. 


INDEX 


597 


regular  size,  61 ;  letterhead, 
48. 

Art  work  and  engraving,  rela- 
tion of,  358;  other  uses  for, 
345-6. 

Artistic  illustrations,  methods  of 
producing,   346-8. 

Artist's    "layout,"    347. 

Ashby,  W.  S.,  against  cleverness 
in  copy,  282-3. 

Ashcroft,  R.  W.,  on  lists,  117. 

Associated  Metal  Lath  Manu- 
facturers,   190. 

Association  for  Improving  the 
Condition  of  the  Poor,  cam- 
paign for,  202. 

Assorting    the    mailings,    416-7. 

Atlas  Powder  Co.,  use  of  stock- 
holder's names,   485,    190,  557. 

Attention,  attracting,  by  famous 
authors,  to  outside,  164;  at- 
tracting, with  copy,  266-8; 
"buying,"  111,  302,  463;  held 
by  size  and  face  of  type, 
330-1 ;  making  typography  at- 
tract, 328-9 ;  making  typog- 
raphy hold  the,  330;  to  details, 
value  of,  423-4;  securing,  by 
means    of    the    outside,    168. 

Audience,  knowledge  of,  how  ob- 
tained, 261. 

Author's        corrections,        401-2; 

Authors,  using,  famous,  190, 
557. 

Autfl-contained,  direct  advertis- 
ing, 40,  308;  folders,  75,  100, 
308;    forms,   73,   .308. 

Automatic    typewriting,    384. 

Automobile,  high  priced,  selling 
by     direct    advertising,    474-7. 

Average  business,  growth  of  an, 
179. 

Average  list  of  householders'  and 
dealers',  changes,  114. 

Avoiding  monotony  by  changing 
appeals,   253-4. 

Babson  Statistical  Organization, 
selling  cost  where  direct  adver- 
tising is  used,  30. 

Backing  up  salesmen,  additional 


reference  to  campaigns,  477-8. 
Backs,  envelope,  use  of,  172. 
"Bait,"  effect  upon  returns,  147. 
Ballard,   Miss   Helen  A.,   experi- 
ences   of   national    advertisers 
with  cook  books,  557. 
Bank,     appealing     to     children, 
565 ;   campaigns  lack  continu- 
ity,   515;    campaigns,    typical, 
517-9;    campaigns,   what   they 
must   be,   515;   envelope   sizes, 
572;    use  of  four-page   letter, 
461. 

Banking  accounts  by  mail,  get- 
ting, 519. 

Banks,  list  of,  514;  the  victims 
of  questionable  advertising 
schemes,  514;  use  of  direct  ad- 
vertising, 514-519. 

Barbers  using  direct  advertising, 
329. 

Baronial   envelope  sizes,  572. 

Barr,  C.  H.,  method  of  folding 
multi-page    letterhead,    310. 

Bartlett,  Mrs.  M.  A.,  use  of  re- 
cipe book  in  direct  advertising, 
557. 

Basis  of  service  for  choosing 
counsel,    183. 

Bayless,  W.  N".,  psychology  of 
colors,   355-7. 

Beckwith  Co.,  importance  of 
direct  advertising,  19;  using 
dealers'  lists.  500. 

Beecher,  H.  S.,  appealing  to 
graduates,  566. 

Beechnut  mints,  unusual  direct 
advertising,  422. 

Bell,  Oliver  L.,  number  of  im- 
pressions from  engraving 
plates.  368. 

Ben  Day  process,  364. 

Benjamin.  Charles  L.,  on  re- 
turns,   149. 

Bibliography,   591-2. 

Big  banks  and  trust  compan- 
ies— what  they  are  doing,  517. 

Big  lists,  good  lists  not  always, 
124. 

Bigelow,   Burton,   J.,    human-in- 


598 


INDEX 


terest  copy,  277;  letter  which 
brought     70%     returns     from 
women,  558. 
Bigness,    impressions    of    broad- 
side, 99. 
"Billboard"  type  of  advertising, 

81. 
Binding,  313;  oblong  style,  313; 
square    style,    313;    styles    of, 
described,    314-5. 
Blackburn     Brokerage     Co.,    ex- 
perience   with    window    envel- 
opes,  162. 
"Bleed  off,"  meaning  of,  304. 
Blocking,  metal,  367. 
Blotter,     for     purposes     of     re- 
minder, 105;  has  utility  value, 
102 ;    Metropolitan    Maf/azine, 
274. 
Blotters.  102;  as  calendars,  102; 
as    house    organs,    104;    bring 
business,     105;     defined,    102; 
examples,    103;    of  two  kinds, 
102;  of  universal  appeal,  105; 
their     function,      105;      three 
physical    forms,    102;    returns 
from,    159;    useful    and    orna- 
mental,  102. 
Board,  bristol,  380 ;  covers,  305 ; 
covers   as    a   physical    appeal, 
176. 
Bold-face   types.    327-8. 
Bold  type   faces,   defined,   324. 
Bond       and       writing       papers, 
standard    sizes    and'    weights 
of,  577;  papers,  379. 
Bonniwell,     Clias,     A.,     effective 

dealers'  campaign,  488. 
Book,  definition.  53;  jackets  as 
novel  forms  of  direct  adver- 
tising, 108;  jackets,  distribu- 
tion as,  422 ;  page,  margins  of 
a,  331-2;  papers,  standard 
sizes  and  weights  of,  578;  sel- 
lers, mail-order,  without 
salesmen,  465. 
Bookbinders'      sizes,      standard, 

578. 
Booklet,  definition,   53;   han"-inf 
by   string.    175;    what    it   wifl 
do,   53. 


Booklets  and  books  {see  Books 
and  Booklets ) ,  and  catalogues, 
etc.,  planning  of  striking  physi- 
cal outsides  for,  174;  classifi- 
cations of,  54;  or  catalogues, 
loose-leaf,  313;  results  from, 
157;    (standard  sizes),  569-70. 

Books  and  booklets,  function, 
60;    kinds,   54-59. 

Borders  aid  reader,  345;  and 
headlines,  often  work  of  art- 
ists, 343. 

Bottlers,    questions    to,    582-3. 

Bradley,  Wm.  A.,  toned  papers, 
377. 

Branch  advertising  offices,  why, 
191. 

Breadth   in  copy,   264. 

Breaking  for  color,   397. 

Brevity  in  copy,  285. 

Brides,  appealing  to,  559. 

Bristol  board,   381. 

Bristols,  folding,  381. 

Broadside,  in  tiie  campaign,  97; 
its  function,  99;  not  prefer- 
able in  single-piece  campaign, 
97 ;  smash  that  produced  over 
thirty  per  cent,  returns,  462; 
to  impress  sense  of  hugeness, 
97. 

Broadsides,  97 ;  defined,  97 ;  dis- 
tinct in  form  and  size,  97; 
meaning  of,  73;  seldom  used 
in  series,  100;  their  use  and 
results,    100. 

Brown,  R.  A.,  importance  of 
illustrations,   339. 

Brunswiok-Balke-Collender  Co., 
booklet,  54. 

Bryant,  P.  F.,  selling  cost  where 
direct  advertising  used,  32. 

Buckbee.  J.  C.  Jr.,  follow-up, 
256-7. 

Buckley,  Dement  &  Co.,  example 
of  deterioration  of  lists,  142. 

Buckley,  Homer  J.,  number  of 
form   letters   used.   51. 

Budget,  keeping  a  record  of, 
425. 

Buerck,  F.  T.,  stamping  return 
card,    419-20. 


INDEX 


599 


Buffalo. Specialty  Co.,  experience 
fill-in,  3^-90;  experience  with 
penny -saver  envelopes,  162; 
IC   vs.  2^,  417-9. 

Building,  a  technical  catalogue, 
545-6 ;  an  export  business  en- 
tirely  by   mail,   523-4. 

Built-to-order   lists,   127. 

Bulletins,  definition  of,  68 ;  func- 
tions of,  68 ;   sizes  of,  69. 

Burdick,  Harry  C,  on  lists,  115. 

Burpee,  Walter  &  Co.,  represen- 
tative of  color,  350. 

Burroughs  Adding  Machine  Co., 
bulletins,  68;  check-up  chart, 
586-8;  club  campaign  plan, 
253;  users  of  bulletins,  68; 
"Club"  plan  of  preceding  sales- 
men with  direct  advertising, 
472-4. 

Business,  calling  cards,  108; 
growth  of,  problem  of  prepara- 
tion of  direct  advertising 
arises,  181;  steps  in  growth, 
179;    through   blotters,    105. 

Businesses,  preparing  direct  ad- 
vertising  in    the    larger,    185. 

Buswell,  J.  H.,  chart,  244;  using 
the   outside    specialist,    198. 

Butler  Brothers,  early  catalogue, 
61. 

Butler,  Ellis  Parker,  author  of 
advertising    book,    58. 

"Buying  attention,"  111,  302, 
463. 

Calendar   card,   a,   75. 

Calendars,   blotters   as,    102. 

California  Almond  Growers'  Ex- 
change, letterheads,  47. 

Calling   cards,  business.    111. 

Campaign,  an  effective  six-unit, 
497-9;  an  effective,  to  semi- 
professional  classes,  542-3 ;  an 
endless-chain  type  of,  467-8; 
broadside  first  or  last  piece, 
97;  doubling  a  club's  member- 
ship by  a  two-piece,  468-9; 
effective  to  sell  to  ultra-rich. 
474-7;    five    fundamentals    in 


planning    a,     211;     follow-up 
distinguished  from  continuous, 
245;   in  foreign  fields,  making 
a  test,  523 ;  of  a  single  piece, 
phenomenal    returns    from    a 
heart-appeal,    457;.    of    direct 
advertising,     success     of,     de- 
pendent upon  list,   114;   plan- 
ning, haste  in,  means   waste, 
243;     planning     the,     209-43; 
that  secured  6,815  new  dealers 
in  ninety  days,  488-90;   three 
classes  of  records  kept  in  or- 
dinary,  425 ;    three-piece,  sells 
more  than  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars'  worth   of   candy,    465-7; 
timing  the  appeal  with  length 
of,   238. 
Campaigns,  additional  references 
to  notable  single-piece,  463-4; 
are  effective  which  make  per- 
sonalized appeal,  225;  backing 
up  salesmen,  additional  refer- 
ences   to,    477-8;     bank,    lack 
continuity,   515-6;    of  two  or 
more  pieces  without  salesmen, 
470j    preceding    salesmen,    ad- 
ditional references  on,  477;  re- 
sults   of    timed,    237;    typical 
bank,    517-9;     typical    depart- 
ment store  direct  advertising, 
507-8;    typical,    for   benefit   of 
distributors,  499-501 ;    typical, 
showing  interlocking  of  direct 
advertising  with  other  forms, 
479;    weakness    of    follow-up, 
253-4;   weakness  of  many  and 
how     corrected,     121;      which 
failed,  why,  114. 
Campbell,    D.    A.,    improper   ad- 
dressing, 413. 
Campbell,  J.   M.,   how  big  com- 
panies advertise  to  own  stock- 
holders,    126. 
Canada,  mailing  to,  454. 
Candy,      three-piece      campaign 
sells  more  than  fifty  thousand 
dollars'  worth  of,  405-7. 
Capitalizing  a  famous  stunt,  531. 
Capitals,  words  in,  337. 
"Caps"   defined,  323, 


600 


INDEX 


Captions,  336;  informative, 
make     illustrations     effective, 

336.  , , . 

Cards,  business,  callmg,  Hi; 
mailing,  defined,  73;  sales- 
men's advance,  79,  233.  ^'ee 
also  Return  Cards. 

Care,  humor  must  be  handled 
with  extreme,  282-4. 

Carnegie,  Andrew,  value  of  out- 
side coimsel,  204. 

Carr,  Jas.  W.,  getting  new  sav- 
ings  accounts,   515-6. 

Carroll,  Earl,  use  of  direct  ad- 
vertising in  selling  play  to 
public,  532-3. 

Carter,  Miss  Helen,  on  mailing 
lists,  114;  Zenas  W.,  coopera- 
tive direct  advertising,   190. 

Carter's  Ink  Co.,  export  cata- 
logue, 521. 

"Case,"    lower,    defined,    323. 

"Case,"    upper,    defined,    323. 

Casey,  C.  C,  improving  return 
cards,   317. 

Casey,  Daniel  V.,  foreign  trade 
suggestions,  525-6. 

Catalogue,  building,  plan  for, 
299-302;  building  the  export, 
521-3;  definition,  60;  eight 
points  to  remember  in  build- 
ing a  technical,  545-<);  enve- 
lope sizes,  572-4;  .  planning 
board  used  in  preparing,  399- 
401;  prices  should  be  printed 
in  export,  521;  to  speed  up 
sales,  one  wholesaler  uses 
monthly,    506. 

Catalogues,  booklets,  etc.,  plan- 
ning of  striking  physical  out- 
sides  for.  174;  functions.  62; 
kinds  of,  61;  or  booklets, 
loose-leaf,  313;  returns  from, 
157;  standard  sizes,  46,  569; 
wholesalers  using,  504-5. 
Caulk  Co.,  L.  D.,  reaching  den- 
tists, 547. 
Caution,     satisfying,     by     copy, 

271-2. 
Center-spread,  defined,  332. 


Chain  Belt  Co.,  use  of  backs  of 
envelopes,     172;     using    sales- 
men   to    check    up    inquiries, 
246-7. 
Chalmers,    Hugh,    returns    from 

form  letters,  153. 
Change   in    list   of   householders 
or  of  dealers,   114;   of  regular 
inclosures,   88. 
Changes,    in    firm    names,    115; 
mailing  cards  when  in  series, 
81. 
Changing  appeal,  method  of,  by 
change  of  jihysical  form,  253- 
4. 
Characteristics,  physical,  of  pa- 
per, 373. 
Charcoal  drawing,  346. 
Charging,  for  direct  advertising, 
217;   the  distributors  for  part 
of  the  cost,  501-2. 
Charitable      institutions,      cam- 
paigns for,   201-2. 
Charity,   impra\'ing  results  in  a 
drive    for,    471-2;    letter    that 
produced  a  million  and  a  quar- 
ter for,  457-8. 
Chart,     of    services    of     outside 
counsel,    202;     showing    inter- 
relation of  engraving  with  pa- 
per,  358-9 ;    showing  necessity 
uf  several  names  on  list,  121; 
that   will    help   you   to    check 
lip  both  plan  and  copy,  584-6. 
Charts,   color.   354. 
Chase,  the,  325. 
Check  up  both  plan  and  copy,  a 

chart  to,  584-6. 
Checking,       catalogue      returns, 
157;  of  lists,  periodically,  138; 
up    and    testing    copy,    294-5; 
up  inquiries  through  salesmen, 
24()-7;    up  lists,  necessity   for, 
123. 
Checks  as  advertising  media,  HI. 
Cheney  Brothers,  book,  59. 
Chewing-gum   wrappers,    110. 
Child  market,  importance  of  the, 
in  the  eves  of  national  adver- 
tisers,  562-3. 
Cliildren,    how    pictures    can    be 


INDEX 


601 


used  to  appeal  to,  567;  in- 
fluence purchases,  562-3 ;  sel- 
ling the,  and  through  them 
their  parents,  563-5 ;  what  one 
bank  accomplished  in  appeal- 
ing to,  565-6. 
China,  white  the  mourning  color 

of,    240. 
Chinese   color   preferences,   524. 
Choosing  counsel,  183. 
Church    of    England    advertises, 

528. 
Cigarette  packages  carry  inserts, 

92. 
Circular,  government's  definition 
of,   448 ;    or   form    letters,    re- 
turns   from,    153. 
Circularizing,      compared      with 
direct  advertising,   18;   gener- 
ally,   policy    as    to    "outside," 
169. 
Circulars,     and     cards,     returns 
from,      158;      distributed      by 
hand.  73;  mailing,  defined,  73. 
"Circulation"    of    direct    adver- 
tising, 113. 
Circus   using  direct  advertising, 

529. 
Cities,  use  of  direct  advertising, 

18. 
Civic,   use  of  direct   advertising 

by  cities,    18. 
Clarity,  and  directness  essentials 
of       mail-order       advertising, 
220;    of  expression,  265. 
Clark,  C.  H.,  who  can  use  follow- 
up,    245-6. 
Class    advertisers,    relative    im- 
portance to,  19;  selling  direct- 
advertising  books,  217. 
Classes,     of     follow-up,     results 
from    various,    258;    practical 
and    professional,    541;    titles 
divided  into  four,  288 ;  various, 
of  envelopes,    161. 
Classification,   of   domestic   mail 
matter,   444-5;    of   engravings, 
359 ;  of  house  organs,  70 ;  key 
to    successful    use    of    mailing 
list,    142;    of    letters,    43;    of 
methods  of  reproduction,  384 ; 


of  officials,  143;  of  prospects 
by  "interest,"  246-7;  the  key 
to  personalization,   142. 

Classifications,  examples  of  re- 
turns from  various,  152;  of 
catalogues,  61;  of  copy,  260, 
274-5,  277;  of  direct  adver- 
tising, 39-112;  of  direct  adver- 
tising, 40;  of  direct-advertis- 
ing noivelties,  107;  of  mailing 
cards,  two  types,  73;  of  mail- 
order houses,  137;  of  papers, 
two  main,  377-8;  of  portfolios, 
65;  of  retailers'  lists,  133-5; 
of  package  inserts,  94;  of 
follow-up  campaigns,  251. 

Classifying  lists  for  mail-order 
houses,    137. 

Clayton,  John  H.,  dummies, 
404-5. 

Clement,  Lewis  H.,  value  to  the 
distributor  of  manufacturers' 
advertising,  496-7. 

"Clever"  pieces  of  direct  adver- 
tising— folders,    100. 

Cleverness,  in  copy  a  two-edged 
sword,  284;  in  copy,  beware, 
282-3;  of  folders  offsets  effec- 
tiveness,  100. 

Clifford,  W.  G.,  example  of  de- 
creasing returns,  141;  "timed" 
mailing,   235. 

Clipping  inelosures  to  letters, 
value  of,  423. 

Clopper,  H.  G.,  results  from 
humorous  campaign,  544-5. 

Close  analysis  and  best  results 
analogous,    143. 

Closed  (sealed),  folded  pieces' 
must  be,  310. 

Club  membership,  soiling  by 
mail,    408-9. 

"Club"  plan,  Burroughs,  of  pre- 
ceding salesmen  with  direct 
advertising,    472-4. 

Cody,  Sherwin,  comparing  letters 
with  canvassing,  153;  on  in- 
fluence of  plan  upon  returns, 
152. 

Coin  envelope  sizes,  573. 


602 


INDEX 


Cole,  W.  Arthur,  decrying  haste, 
213. 

Colgate  &  Co.,  value  of  appeal  to 
children,  562. 

Collecting  by  mail,  results,  469- 
70. 

Collette,  Chas.  L.,  use  of  testi- 
monials,  278. 

Collins,  Clarkson  A.,  studying 
the   market,    219. 

Color,  a  dominating  display 
factor,  350;  appeal  of,  356; 
breaking  for,  397;  card  method 
of  classification,  142;  charts, 
354;^  combinations  of  cover 
or  text  stock  and  inks,  har- 
monious, 381;  display,  339- 
357;  in  direct  advertising, 
uses  of  second,  355 ;  may  be 
secured  by  use  of  paper  or  ink 
or  both,  354;  must  be  used 
with  discretion,  354;  value  of, 
350;  women  responsive  to, 
554. 

Colors,  complementary,  354 ; 
inharmonious,  354 ;  primary, 
354 ;  psychological  appeals  of 
various,  356 ;  psychological 
tests  of,  355 ;    secondary,  352. 

Combination  mailing,  first-  and 
third-class  mail,  454. 

Combination    plate,    360. 

"Combinations,"    drawings.   348 ; 
of  paper  and  ink,  table  of,  381- 
'  2. 

"Come-back"  with  envelope  in- 
closure,  84. 

"Come-backs,"      efl'ective,      463 ; 

.  mechanically  planning,  316- 
7;  two  forms  of,  292;  writ- 
ing copy  for,  292-4. 

Commerce,  importance  of  mails 
in,  8. 

Commercial   envelope   sizes.   572. 

Common  grammatical  errors, 
295-6. 

Comparative  cost  of  sending 
mail  salesmen  ahead  of  male 
salesmen,  471-2. 

Comparison,  a  making  the  same 
personal    appeal    to    men    and 


women,  551-3;  of  results  from 
different  methods  of  reproduc- 
ing same  message,  389;  physi- 
cal  forms   as  to  returns,   159. 

Competition,  the,  219. 

Compiling,  lists,  why  variation 
in,  130;  manufacturers'  lists, 
problems  in,  135;  the  list,  how 
to,  128. 

Complementary  colors,  352. 

Complete  address,  what  is  a?, 
119. 

Completing  the  sale  of  a  techni- 
cal product  by  mail.  46. 

Composition,  by  hand  (type), 
325  ;  linotype,  326 ;  monotype, 
326. 

Confusion  from  number  of  en- 
velope   inclosures,    90. 

Consumers,  direct  advertising  to 
reach,  19;  house  organ,  70; 
questions   for,   583. 

Contests,  watch  lottery  laws  in 
connection   with,   454. 

Continued  appeal  compared  with 
the  "follow-up."  238. 

Continuity,  a  paramovmt  factor, 
209-11 ;  appeal  of  house  organs 
is  for,  71;  bank  campaigns 
lack,  515;  elements  of,  211; 
lack  of,  overcoming  in  re- 
tailers' campaigns,  501 ;  of  ap- 
peal, 253-4. 

Continuous,  campaign,  follow-up 
distinguished  from,  245;  fol- 
low-up, 247;  follow-up  to 
keep  in  touch  with  regular 
trade,  251. 

Control  of  the  list.  113. 

Convention,  distribution  at,  422; 
report  of  one  never  held  a 
stunt,  534;  selling  attendance 
at  a,  530-1. 

Conventional  direct  advertising, 
40. 

Cooper,  Clayton  S.,  use  of  house 
organ    in   export   work,   523-4. 

Cooperating  with  salesmen,  two 
main  methods  of,  471. 

Cofiperation,  securing  the  job- 
ber's   (wholesaler's),  491. 


INDEX 


603 


Cooperative,  direct  advertising, 
532;  direct  advertising,  field 
for,  190;  mailings,  422. 

Copper-plate   engraving,    393. 

Copy,  260-296;  analysis  of  hu- 
man interest,  276;  and  plan, 
a  chart  that  will  help  you  to 
check  up  both,  584-6;  answer- 
ing inquiries,  must  "follow 
through,"  289;  appealing  to 
brides,  559 ;  appealing  to  men, 
compared  with  same  appeal  to 
women,  551-3;  appealing  to 
women  compared  with  same 
appeal  to  men,  554-6;  appeals 
of  tendencies,  novelty  and  im- 
agination, 268;  arousing  in- 
terest by,  269-70;  attracting 
attention  with,  266-8;  breadth 
in,  264;  brevity  in,  285; 
classifications  of,  260,  274, 
275,277;  cleverness  in,  a  two- 
edged  sword,  284;  creating 
desire  by,  270-1;  depth  in, 
264;  dimensions  of,  264;  em- 
phasis in,  secured  by  mechani- 
cal methods,  265;  estimating 
typewritten,  402-3 ;  example  of 
how  not  to  write  copy,  284-5; 
for  "come-backs,"  writing, 
292-5;  for  printer,  preparing 
and  estimating,  402-3;  four 
essentials  in  writing,  260; 
four  vital  factors  more  im- 
portant than,  260;  "free- 
lance" writer  as  a  producer  of 
direct-advertising  copy,  195; 
height  in,  264;  human-interest, 
what  it  is,  275-6;  humorous, 
483;  humorous  importance  of, 
260;  inciting  action  by,  272- 
4;  information  type,  274;  in- 
stitutional or  educational, 
275 ;  knowledge  of  audience  in 
writing,  261 ;  knowledge  of 
the  language  in  writing,  261; 
knowledge  of  the  subject  in 
writing,  261 ;  length  in,  264 ; 
making  a  good  writer  of, 
189-90,  286-7;  news,  plays  up 


news  features,  274;  news  pur- 
pose in  writing,  262;  questions 
for  checking  up,  586-8;  rea- 
son-why, 277;  same,  for  all 
physical  forms  of  direct  adver- 
tising, 286;  satisfying  caution 
by,  271-2;  satisfying  sincerity 
of  purpose  in  writing,  262; 
testimonials  in  reason-why, 
278-9;  testing  and  checking 
up,  295 ;  three  principles  of 
writing  good,  265-6;  "treat 
'em  rough."  533;  try  this  test 
on  your,  284-5;  when  to  use 
reason-why  copy,  279 ;  which 
did  what  salesmen  failed  to  do, 
533 ;  writers,  a  few  "don'ts" 
for  direct  advertising,  295-6; 
writers  making  good,  189-90, 
286-7. 

Copyright,   cost   of,   407. 

Copyrighting  the  printed  repro- 
duction, 407. 

Corman,  Edward,  printers'  coun- 
sel, 200-1. 

Correct  emphasis,   265-6. 

Correcting  mailing  lists,    170. 

Corrections,  author's,  401-2. 

Cost,  charging  the  distributors 
for  part  of  the  cost,  501-2;  of 
a  letter.  374;  of  copyright, 
407;  of  imprinting,  26,500;  of 
personalizing,  229;  of  type- 
writing addresses,  416;  record 
of  individual  pieces,  429-30; 
table  for  figuring  mailing,  420- 
421. 

Costs,  saving  in,  by  knowledge 
of  mechanical  problems,  410- 
411. 

See  also  Results.  Returns, 

Counsel,  and  the  advertising 
agency,  199;  chart  of  an  out- 
side, 202;  choose,  how  to,  184; 
printers',  in  direct  advertising, 
200. 

Cover  finishes,  378-9. 

Cover,  or  outside,  planning  me- 
chanically the,  303-5;  or  text 


604 


INDEX 


stock  and  inks,  harmonious 
color  combinations  of,  381 ; 
papers,  antique,  378 ;  crash, 
379  J  linen,  379;  plate,  379; 
standard  sizes  and  weights  of, 
578;    varieties   of,    378-9. 

Covers,  board,  as  a  physical  ap- 
peal, 176;  division  of,  303-4; 
arawn,  304;  enameled  paper, 
378;  extended,  304;  marbled, 
379 ;  photographic,  304 ; 
trimmed   flush,    304. 

Crash  cover  papers,  379. 

Cream  of  Wheat  Co.,  organiza- 
tion of  department,  188. 

Creating  desire   by   copy,   270-1. 

Cremation    advertised,   529-30. 

Crocker-McElvvain  Co.,  folding 
multi-page  letterheads,  310. 

"Cropping"  defined,  368. 

Crow,  W.  H.,  on  paper,  371; 
selection  of  paper,  373. 

Crown,  800,  size,  defined,  578. 

Curiosity  as  an  attention-getter, 
172. 

"Curiosity-seoker,"   defined,    246. 

Currier,  Everett  R.,  typography, 
326. 

Curved  plates   in   printing,   391. 

Customers,  finding  your,  531 ; 
who  should  be  your,  121. 

Cut-out  mechanical  appeal; 
when   to  use   it,    313. 

Cutler-Hammer  Mfg.  Co.,  secur- 
ing jobber   cooperation,  491-2. 

Cylinder  presses,  410. 

Dahlke,  B.  A.,  lesults  of  clipping 
inclosures  to  letters,  423 ; 
value  of  addressing  perfect, 
414. 

Data,  some  general,  on  returns, 
150. 

Davidson,  J.  M.,  Winnipeg's  ad- 
vertising.   530. 

Davis  Sewing  Machine  Co.,  an- 
swering inquiries,  485-6. 

Dawson.  W.  H.,  using  stock- 
holders' names,  485. 

"Dead  Wood"  predicated  upon 
decreasing  returns,  141. 


Dealers,  example  of  copy  for, 
489;  dealers'  house  organ,  70; 
pieces,  personalizing  of, 
233;  questions  to  ask  the  re- 
tail, 581-2;  referring  inquiries 
to,  249-51 ;  securing  new  by 
direct  advertising,  488-90; 
writing  to  in  advance  of 
salesmen's    calls,    194. 

Deckle  edge  paper,  376. 

"Decoy,"  effect  upon  returns, 147. 

Decreasing  returns  indicating 
"dead  wood,"  141. 

Deep  etching,  367. 

Definition,  booklet,  53;  "crop- 
ping," 368;  multi-page  letter- 
heads, 43 ;  Novel  letters,  port- 
folios, 64;  sales  letter,  45; 
self-contained  or  self-inclosing, 
303. 

Definition  of,  a  letter,  42;  bulle- 
tins, 68;  catalogue,  60;  "circu- 
lar," government's,  448;  com- 
plete address,  119;  direct 
advertising,  15;  engraving 
terms  367;  form  letter,  43; 
good  list,  118;  house  organ, 
70;  matrix,  367;  "news"  copy, 
274;  results,  145;  returns, 
145;  the  list,  113;  type,  321; 
various  methods  of  reproduc- 
ing   physical    forms,    391. 

Definitions,  value  of,  39. 

Delivery  of  mail  matter,  ruling 
of  post  office,  119. 

Demuth,  Wm.  &  Co.,  lettorlieads, 
48. 

Dentists,  pulling  business  from, 
546-7. 

Department,  direct  advertising, 
grows  with  business,  185;  of 
sales  promotion  by  mail, 
functions  of  the,  193:  sales 
piomotion,  organization  of  a, 
191. 

Department  store,  direct-adver- 
tising campaigns,  typical,  507- 
8;  typical  direct-advertising 
percentages,  25. 

Depth  in  copy,  264. 

Desire,  creating,  by  copy,  270-1. 


INDEX 


605 


Details,  O.  K.  of  technical,  407; 
technical,  about  type,  323; 
value    of    attention    to,    423-4. 

Detroit  Steel  Products  Co., 
reachinj^  semiprofessionals,,  45C, 

Detroit  Stove  Works,  organiza- 
tion of  department,  187. 

Develop  sales  to  schools,  how 
Victor  Talking  Machine  Co., 
invested  nearly  $100,000  a 
year  to,  56G-7. 

DeVinne,  Theo.  L.,  book-page 
margins,  331-2;  better  typog- 
raphy,  327. 

Dickens,  E.  S.,  value  of  im- 
printed letterheads,  500. 

Die,  a  stamping,  307. 

Die-cut  letterlieads,  48;  mailing 
pieces  banned  by  U.  S.  postal 
department,   174. 

Die-cutting,  313. 

Difference,  between  envelope  in- 
closures  and  package  inserts, 
97 ;  between  multigrapliing 
and  mimeographing,  385-0 ; 
between  results  and  returns, 
145;  in  marketing  by  mail 
and  other  forms  of  marketing, 
220;  in  reproduction  of  let- 
ters, 384-5. 

Dimensions   of    "copy,"   264. 

Direct-Advertising  Corporation, 
booklet,  50;  house  organ,  70. 

Direct-Advertising,  department 
grows  with  business,  185; 
department,  points  on  organ- 
izing a,  191;  novelties,  107; 
novelties  classified,  107;  nov- 
elty forms,  107;  specialist, 
using  the,  197 ;  specialties, 
107;  using  outside  services  in 
preparing,    197. 

Direct  IMail  Advertising  Ass'n 
letterhead.  47. 

Direct,  results  not  aim  of  mail- 
ing cards  and  circulars,  81; 
returns  unusual  from  envelope 
inclosures,  90;  suggestion, 
power  of,  236—7. 
Director  of  direct  advertising, 
place  of,  204. 


Directories  main  source  of  manu- 
facturers' lists,  135. 
Display,   and   typography,   inter- 
relation    of,     321;     emphasis 
through  type,  321;  factor,  color 
a      dominating,      350;       rules 
governing    type,    328;     simpli- 
city spells  success  in  typogra- 
phic, 326. 
Displays,  pictorial,  339-42. 
Disston,    Henry    &    sons,    repre- 
sentative   on    requirements    of 
copy  writer,  286-7. 

Distributing  and  addressing,  413- 
424. 

Distribution,  function  of  the 
wholesaler  largely  one  of,  504- 
5 ;  metliods  of,  other  than 
mails,  230,  422-3;  of  the  ap- 
peal, 306;  purposes,  using  the 
mails  for,  416-7;  unusual, 
230;  through  agents,  by  house 
to  house,  at  exits  of  theaters, 
factories,  etc.,  with  packages, 
in  theater  programs,  as  soap 
wrappers,  as  book  jackets,  by 
means  of  telegraph,  at  con- 
ventions, by  means  of  racks, 
422. 
'Distribution,"  what  is  meant 
by,  218. 

Distributor,  serving  the,  through 
direct  advertising  to  sales- 
men, 492-3 ;  value  of  the  manu- 
facturers' advertising  to  the, 
496-7. 

Distributors  and  salesmen,  edu- 
cational work  on,  494-5. 

Distributor's  business,  imprint- 
ing the  simplest  form  of  tying 
up  the  manufacturers'  adver- 
tising with,  497. 

Distributors,  charging  them  for 
part  of  the  cost,  501-2;  ques- 
tions to  ask,  581-3;  typical 
campaigns  for  benefit  of,  499- 
501. 

Divisions  of  titles  into  four 
classes,  288. 

Divisional  advertising  depart- 
ments, wliy  desirable,  193. 


606 


INDEX 


Doctors,    follow-up    brings    busi- 
ness from,  547-8. 
'Dodgers,"  73,  422. 

Dogs,  selling  by  mail,  481-3. 
Doherty,  Henry  L.  &  Co.,  55. 

Doing  what  salesmen  failed  to 
do.  533. 

Domestic  mail  matter,  444-5; 
classification  of,  444. 

Dominating  display  factor  in 
color,  350. 

"Don'ts"  for  direct  advertising 
copy  writers,  295-6. 

Double  cap,  defined,  577. 

Double  folio,  defined,  577. 

Double-leaded   (type),  325. 

Double,  or  reply,  government 
postal-card,  75. 

Double-reply  card,  size,  75. 

Doubling  a  club's  membership  by 
a  two-piece  campaign,  468. 

Downey,  C.  Lee,  what  can  be 
sold  by  mail,  220. 

'Dramatized"    letterheads,    111. 

Drawing,  charcoal,  346;  pen  and 
ink,  346;  pencil,  346;  wash, 
348. 

Drawings,  photographs,  etc., 
keeping  a  record  of,  438-9 ;  tex- 
tures of,  359. 

Drawn  covers,  304. 

Dreier,   Thomas,   letterhead,  48. 

Drew.  F.  C,  on  campaign  which 
failed,  115;  on  preparing 
"outsides,"  175;  tests,  242. 

Droke,  Maxwell,  copy  appealing 
to  brides.  559 ;  copy  on  the 
"comeback,"  294. 

Drug  envelope  sizes,  573. 

Dummy  and  the  layout,  403-5. 

Duograph    (half-tone),  363. 

Duotype   (half-tone) ,  363. 

Duplicating  letters,  385-6;  form 
paragraph  method  of,  386-8. 

Duration  of  follow-up,  256-7. 

DuPont,  E.  I.,  de  Nemours  Co., 
book,  59 ;  use  of  direct  adver- 
tising, 479-80. 

Dutch  East  Indies,  using  direct 
advertising  to,  525, 


Dwyer,  V.  C,  returns  from  four- 
page  letterhead,  156;  Vic,  sell- 
ing technical  product  by  mail, 
460. 

Early  direct  advertising,  in  Prin- 
ter's Ink,  6. 
Eastman    Kodak   Co.,   house   or- 
gan, 70. 

Educational  advertising,  12;  ad- 
vertising, classes  of,  14;  ad- 
vertising, cooperative,  190; 
campaigns  by  paper  manufac- 
turers, 371;  copy  institutional 
copy,  275;  efTort  by  follow-up, 
245 ;  work  on  distributors  and 
salesmen,  494. 

EflTect  of  source  upon  efficiency 
of  list,  128. 

Efl'ective,  appeals  to  technical 
men,  545-6;  campaigns  to 
semiprofessional  classes,  an, 
542-3 ;  campaigns  those  mak- 
ing personalized  appeal,  225; 
letter,  length  of.  285;  single- 
letter  appeal,  537-8. 

Effectively  reaching  the  student, 
556. 

Effectiveness,  mechanical  meth- 
ods, of  increasing,  307 ;  of 
folders  offset  by  cleverness, 
100. 

Efllciency,  of  list,  effect  of  source 
upon.  128;  tests,  advertising, 
586-8. 

Egg-shell  papers,  380. 

Electrotype,  what  is  an,  365. 

Electrotypes,  365-6 ;  and  Engrav- 
ings. 358-370. 

Elements   of   continuity,   209-11. 

Eliminate  altercations  by  specifi- 
cations, 589-91. 

Elite  typewriter  type,  322. 

Elliott,  H.  P.,  on  returns  from 
form  letters,  153. 

Em,  tfie,  324. 

Embossing,  393. 

Embossing  plate,  367. 

Emerson,  T.  K.,  value  of  higli- 
grade  direct  advertising,   376. 


INDEX 


607 


Emotions  and  senses,  several 
methods  of  making  appeal  to, 
277. 

Emphasis,  correct,  265;  for  sig- 
nificant stress,  337;  in  copy 
secured  by  mechanical  methods, 
339-357 ;  mechanical  in  let- 
ters, 334;  rule  for,  337; 
tlirough  type  display,  321; 
underscores  a  method  of,  335. 

Employees'  house  organ,  70. 

Enameled  cover  paper,  378. 

Endless-chain  type  of  campaign, 
467-8. 

Engraving,  and  art  work,  rela- 
tion of,  358-9;  and  printing 
interrelation,  5;  copper-plate, 
393;  plate,  number  of  im- 
pressions from,  368;  with 
paper,  chart  showing  inter- 
relation of,  351. 

Engravings,  and  electrotypes, 
358-370;  classification  of,  359; 
half-tone,  361;  keeping  a 
record  of,  439-42 ;  ordering, 
368;  printing  possibilities  of, 
359;   steel,   393;    wood,  360. 

Enormity  of  direct  advertising, 
7. 

Entwistle,  Miss  Dorothy  R.,  why 
women  buy,  560. 

Envelope,  backs,  use  of,  172; 
inclosure  defined,  82;  inclo- 
oure  returns,  158;  inclosure 
with  "come-back,"  84 ;  inclo- 
sures  82;  iiiclosures,  a  number 
of  confusing,  90;  inclosures 
differ  from  package  inserts, 
97 ;  varying  size  used  to  get 
attention,  168. 

Envelopes,  consider  in  relation 
to  inclosure,  170;  how  to  pre- 
pare copy  for,  172;  "outlook" 
or  "window,"  162;  "outsides," 
sub-divisions,  171;  pennysaver, 
162,  418;  sizes,  standard,  572- 
4 ;  standard  commercial, 
government,  novel,  162;  vari- 
ous classes  of,  161;  when  to 
order,  176. 


Equivalent  weight  of  paper  in 
another  size,  to  find,  575-576. 

Errors,  a  few  common  gram- 
matical, 295-6. 

Essentials,  of  direct  advertising, 
the  list,  113;  things  in  good 
list,  118. 

Essentials,  four,  in  planning 
typography,  336-7 ;  four,  in 
writing  "copy."  260;  of  mail- 
order advertising,  directness 
and  clarity,  220. 

Estimating,  and  preparing  copy 
for  printer,  401-5;  typewrit- 
ten copy,  402-3. 

Etching  deep,  367;  negative, 
367. 

Event  as  method  of  "timing," 
235 

Evidence  in  testimonials,  278- 
9;  of  value  of  mechanical 
factors,    302. 

Example  of,  an  effective  six- 
unit  campaign,  497-9 ;  copy 
used  by  Church  of  England, 
528;  direct  advertising  for 
grocer's  use,  508-9 ;  effective 
appeal  to  women  as  compared 
with  men,  554-6;  effective 
bank  campaign,  515-6;  effec- 
tive broadside,  462;  effective 
copy  to  men  and  women,  com- 
parison, 551-2;  effective  dealer 
campaign,  488-90;  effective 
folder,  459-60;  effective  four- 
page  letter,  461-2;  effective 
jobber  campaign,  492-4;  effec- 
tive letter.  457-9;  effective 
sales  letter,  46.')-7 ;  Hart 
Schaffner  &  Marx  dealer 
copy,  536;  how  not  to 
write  copy,  284-5;  "joint 
production"  spoiling  a  letter, 
184;  judicious  copy  for 
come-backs,  292-5;  letter  sel- 
ling dogs  by  mail,  482,  483; 
letter  which  did  what  sales- 
men failed  to  do,  533. 


608 


INDEX 


Examples  of  returns,  148,  150; 
aims  or  purposes,  221;  allur- 
ing titles,  288 ;  broadsides,  97  ; 
copy  to  appeal  to  ultra-ricli, 
474-7;  direct-advertising  nov- 
elties, 108;  different  "types," 
322-4;  inclosures,  etc.,  84; 
notable  single-piece  campaigns, 
464 ;  package  inserts,  etc.,  94 ; 
returns  from  form  letters,  153- 
6;  unusual  letter  reproduc- 
tions, 388;  value  of  advertis- 
ing counsel  from  agents,  199- 
200;  value  of  advertising  coun- 
sel from  printers,  200-1;  wear- 
out  follow-ups,  251-2;  what 
outside  help  has  accomplished, 
201-2. 

Exits  of  theaters,  etc.,  distribu- 
tion at,  422. 

Experience  and  study  requisite 
to  acquisition  of  skill  in  use 
of  direct  advertising,   189. 

Experienced  advertiser  says 
there  are  only  two  metliods 
of    reaching   farmer,   535. 

Experiences,  national  advertiser, 
with  fill-in,  389-92. 

Experiences,  of  Babson  Statisti- 
cal Organization,  direct  ad- 
vertising users,  31;  of  Hoover 
Suction  Sweeper  Co.,  users  of 
direct  advertising,  32;  of 
national  advertisers  charging 
for  direct  advertising,  217; 
of  users  giving  returns  re- 
ceived, 153-G;  of  users  of  1 
cent  and  two  cent  mailing, 
417-9;  of  value  of  copy,  2G2; 
returns  from  blotters,  159; 
returns  from  booklets,  157; 
returns  from  catalogues,  157- 
8;  returns  from  folders,  159: 
returns  from  mailing  cards, 
158;  returns  from  multi-page 
letterheads,  156-7;  users  di- 
rect advertising  with  proper 
paper  selection,  375-6;  users 
of  window-type  envelopes,  162; 
with  follow-ups,  255-6;  with 
human-interest  copy,  275. 


Export  business,  building  an,  en- 
tirely by  mail,  523-4;  cata- 
logue, building  the,  521-3; 
catalogue,  prices  should  be 
printed  in,  522. 
See  also   Foreign   Trade. 

Expression,  clarity  of,  265 ;  typo- 
graphy is  the  vehicle  of,  321. 

Extended  covers,  304. 

Eytinge,  Louis  Victor,  human-in- 
terest copy,  275;  importance  of 
form  of  a  letter,  51 ;  on  envelope 
copy,  173-4  tests  of  different 
sizes  of  typewriter  type,  322. 

Fabrikoid  covers,  305. 

Factor,  size  as  a  mechanical,  240. 

Factors,  deciding  t^ie  period  in- 
tervening between  follow-ups, 
256-7;  mental,  in  direct  adver- 
tising, 207-296;  physical,  in 
direct  advertising,  37-296; 
table  of  mechanical,  303;  the 
interrelation  of  paper  with 
other,  372-3;  value  of  mechan- 
ical, 302. 

Fallacy  of  judging  direct  ad- 
vertising by  inquiries  it  pro- 
duces, 148-50. 

Far  East,  using  direct  advertis- 
ing to,  525. 

Farm  field,  additional  references 
tb  selling,  540. 

Farmer,  bought  and  why  he  did 
not,  why  one,  539 ;  field,  the,  an 
enormous  market,  535-6 ;  two 
methods  of  reaching  the,  535. 

Farmers,  how  Hart,  Schaffner  & 
Marx  appeal  to,  536-7. 

Farrar,  G.  P.,  color  in  direct  ad- 
vertising, 354;  preparing  out- 
side, 173;  rules  for  length  of 
type  line,  331 ;  type  vs.  hand- 
lettering,  343-5. 

Features,  news  copy  plays  up 
news,  274. 

Federal  Schools,  follow-up  ex- 
perience, 256-7. 

Fell,  Wm.  F,  Co.,  decrying  haste, 
213. 


INDEX 


609 


Field  of  the  farmer  an  enormous 

market,  535-6. 
Fields,    foreign    trade    work    in 

particular,  524-G. 
Figuring  mailing  cost,  table  for, 

420-1. 
Figuring  paper  stock  for  a  print- 
ing job,  method  used  for,  382. 
Filing  of  lists,  129. 

Fill-in  and  its  reproduction, 
389-91. 

Filling  in,  proper,  229. 

Finch,  Van  Slyck  &  McConville, 
wholesalers  use  direct  advertis- 
ing, 505-6. 

Finding  equivalent  weight  of 
paper  in  anotlier  size,  575-6. 

Finishes,  cover,  378. 

First,  American  book,  5 ;  class 
matter,  rate  of,  446;  class 
matter,  what  is,  445 ;  class  or 
third-class  mail,  rules  for  de- 
ciding use  of,  417-9;  class  or 
third-mail,  mailing  at  one 
time,  454;  direct  advertising, 
America,  1 ;  direct  advertis- 
ing, ancient,  1 ;  paragraphs, 
287 ;  paragraphs  the  headlines 
of  letters,  289. 

Fisk,  J.  W.,  errors  of  retailers, 
506. 

Fitting,  inside  and  outside, 
necessity  of,  170;  the  folding 
to  the  message,  311-3. 

Fitzpatrick  Brothers,  letterhead, 
47. 

Five-and-ten-cent  stores  using 
direct   advertising,    530-1. 

Five  million  dollars,  a  four- 
paged  letter  that  produced 
over,  461-2. 

Five  steps  of  a  sale,  262-3. 

Flanner  &  Buchanan,  letterhead, 
50. 

Flaps,  Gothic  (envelopes),  574; 
wallet  (envelopes) .  574. 

Flat-bed  printing,  391. 

Fleishman,  Jerome  P.,  using 
direct  advertising  to  solve 
labor  problems,  532. 

Florence      Mfg.      Co.,      securing 


jobber's  name,  491 ;  use  of  En- 
velopes, 171. 

Flour,  selling  by  direct  advertis- 
ing, 497-9. 
Fly  leaves.  315. 
Fold,  the  French,  374. 

Folded,  advertising  cards,  440-7; 
mailing  card,  73;  pieces  must 
be  sealed  or  otherwise  closed, 
310-1. 

Folder,  job,  430-1;  outside, 
rules  for  making  most  of, 
174-5;  which  produced  results 
followed  by  salesmen,  459. 

Folders,  100;  auto-contained, 
100;  defined,  100;  eflfective, 
516;  examples,  100;  invari- 
ably auto-contained,  75;  re- 
turns from,  159;  the  "clever" 
pieces,  100;  their  cleverness 
and  effectiveness,  100;  two 
main  types  of,  411;  unre- 
stricted in  shape  and  size,  101. 

Folding,  307-10;  bristols,  381; 
letterheads,.  48 ;  letterheads, 
50;  Machines,  two  main  types, 
411;  multi-page  sales  letter- 
head, methods  of,  309;  must 
be  fitted  to  message,  311-3; 
quality  of  paper,  373. 

Folds  or  pages,  planning  meclian- 
ically  the  number  of,  305-6; 
planning  mechanically  the  sizes 
of,  306. 

Folio,  defined,  577. 

"Follow  through,"  inquiry  an- 
swering copy  must,  289-92; 
principle  of  folding,  311-3. 

Following,  the  job  through  the 
shop,  396-8;  up,  inquiries 
worth  getting  are  worth,  246. 

Follow-up,  a  typical,  247-51 ; 
brings  business  from  doctors, 
547;  campaigns,  three  class- 
ifications of,  251;  campaigns, 
weakness  of,  253-4 ;  continued 
appeal  compared  with  the, 
238;  continuous,  251;  contin- 
uous,  to   keep    in   touch    with 


610 


INDEX 


regular  trade,   251;    definition 
of,    245;     distinguished    from 
conliinuous  campaign,  245;  ex- 
port   leads  ,   salesmen    should, 
523;    keeping   records    of    the, 
433-8;    length    of    the,    250-7; 
letters   usual    form   of,   24(i-7 ; 
number    of    times    to,    255-6; 
planning  the,  244-259 ;   should 
not     antagonize,     247 ;     term, 
252-3;  theory  of  the,  244;  the 
term  used  in  connection  with 
salesman,     253;     wear-out    or 
persistent,      251-2;      what      a 
change  in  outside  dress  means 
to  users  of  the,  168;   who  can 
use    the,    245;     writing,     the, 
252-3. 
Follow-ups,    length    of   time   be- 
tween, 257 ;   results  from  vari- 
ous  classes   of,   258;    wear-out 
or    persistent,    frequently    an- 
tagonize, 251-2. 
Folly  of  wrong  pictures,  342. 
Forecasting  returns,  241-2. 
Foreign,  market,  pictures  impor- 
tant  in    reaching,   521;    trade, 
extensive     references      to,      in 
Dutch    East   Indies,   525 ;    Far 
East,    525;     Indo-China,    525; 
Japan,  525-G;   Latin  America. 
525:    Philippines,   526;    Strait 
Settlements,  526;  trade,  knowl- 
edge  of,   mark   first   essential, 
520. 
Foreword   to   the   book,   vii. 
Foreword,  special,  to  part  four, 

297. 
Form  and  size  of  broadsides,  97. 
Form,  Basis,  of  direct  advertis- 
ing, 42;   letter,  definition,  43; 
letters,  importance  of,  51;  let- 
ters, postscrijjt  in,  307 ;  names, 
changes    in,     114;     of    letters, 
42;  or  circular  letters,  returns 
from,  153 -G;   paragraph  meth- 
od of  duplicating  letters,  386- 
7;    paragraphs,   254-5;    physi- 
cal,  importance  in   letters,  51. 
Forms,     of     "come-backs."    two, 
292;      of     direct     advertising. 


40;    physical,    of    letters,    48; 

planning   the  physical,   302-3. 

Forwarding    or    returning    mail, 

450-1. 
Four   hundred   letters   that  sold 

401  orders,  460. 
Four-color  process  plates,  364. 
Four-fold  mailing  card,  75. 
Four-page  inclosure,  steps  in  re- 
production   of,    395-6;     letter 
that    produced    over    five    mil- 
lion dollars,  461 ;   sales  letter- 
heads, returns  from,  156. 
Fourth-class,  mail  matter    (par- 
cel   post),    450;    matter,   450; 
undeiiverable    mail,    450-1. 
Fowler,    Geo.    S.,    importance    of 

appealing  to  children,  562. 
"Free-lance."     advertising     men, 
184;    writer,   place   of   the,   in 
preparing    direct    advertising, 
195-7. 
"Free"    literature,   the   difficulty 

with,   148. 
French  fold,  the,   374. 
French,    Geo.,    printing   and   pa- 
per, 372. 
Frolich,  Geo.  C.  retailers  use  of 

direct  advertising,  508-9. 
Function,  and  analysis  of  sales 
letter,  44;  of  bulletins,  68; 
of  envelope  inclosure,  82 ;  of 
tlie  blotter,  105 ;  of  the  broad- 
side, 99;  of  the  "outside," 
10.3-7;  of  the  wliniesaler 
largely  one  of  distribution, 
504-5.' 
Functions  of  books  and  booklets, 
00;  of  catalogues,  02;  of  house 
organs,  71;  of  letters,  42;  of 
mailing  cards,  mailing  circu- 
lars, 80;  of  portfolios,  00;  of 
sales  promotion  and  mail  sales 
departments,  191-3;  of  the 
sales-promotion-by-mail  de- 
partment, 193-5;  peculiar  to 
direct  advertising,  27;  three 
main,  of  inclosures,  84. 
Fundamentals,  five,   in   planning 

a  campaign,  211. 
Furniture,  "sampled,"  527. 


INDEX 


611 


Furst  Brothers  &  Co.,  plan  of 
catalogue   building,  299,   301. 

Galliver,  Geo.  A.,  statement  of, 

to  master  printers,  201 
Garage,    use   of   direct   advertis- 
ing, 553. 
Gardner,    E.    H.,    use    of    direct 
advertising  to  do   what  sales- 
men failed  to  do,  533-4. 
Garrott,   H.   G.,   effective   letters 
to  salesmen,  493-4. 

Garver  Brothers,  advertising  ap- 
propriation, 508 ;  retailers 
lists,  131. 

Gasser,  J.  M.  Co.,  follow-up  re- 
sults, 258. 

General   data    on   returns,    150. 

General  Electric  Co.,  (Federal 
]\Iiniature  Division)  reaching 
jobbers'  salesmen,  492;  port- 
folio, 66. 

Getting  banking  accounts  by 
mail,  519. 

Gibson  Mandolin-Guitar  Co.,  fol- 
low-up, 255. 

Giles,  Ray,  on  portfolios,  67. 

Gillette  Safety  Razor  Co.,  ap- 
pealing to  graduates,  566; 
effective  broadside,  462-3. 

Glassine  transparent  paper,  use 
of,  377. 

Good,  copy,  three  principles  of 
writing,  265-6;  list,  defined, 
119. 

"Good"  returns  and  "good"  re- 
sults, meaning  of,  145-6. 

Good-will,  of  the  child,  how 
International  Harvester  Com- 
pany uses  direct  advertising 
to  get,  563;  through  house 
organ,  84. 

Gothic,  flaps  (envelopes),  574; 
types,  323-4. 

Goulds  Manufacturing  Co.,  use 
of  follow-up,  245-6. 

Goudy,  F.  VV.,  type  vs.  hand- 
lettering,  343-5. 

Government,  envelopes,  161; 
postal-card,  double  or  reply, 
75;  post  cards,  446.  I 


Graduates,  appealing  to,  566; 
copy  appealing  to,  550-1. 

Grammatical  errors,  a  few  com- 
mon, 295-6. 

Graves,  A.  H.  on  retailers' 
lists,  131; 

Graves  H.  M.,  follow-up  results. 
258. 

Gray  &  Dudley  Co.,  use  of 
^  monthly    catalogue,    506. 

Grocer,  corner,  direct  advertis- 
ing for,  508. 

Grocers,  direct  advertising  to 
sell,  479;  selling  by  direct  ad- 
vertising, 488-90;  selling  to, 
465-7. 

Growth  of  an  average  business. 
179-81. 

Guaranteed  lists,  127. 

Guaranty  Trust  Co.,  use  of  di- 
rect advertising,  517. 

Guess  work,  records  obviate, 
442. 

Hale,  Henry,  Jr.,  example  of 
too  much  color,  354. 

Half-tone,  engravings,  361; 
screens,  kind  to  use,  364-5; 
screens  to  paper  stocks,  rela- 
tion of,  365. 

Half-tones,   varieties   of,   362-3. 

Hall,  Willard,  use  of  red  fill-in, 
390. 

Hamilton  Watch  Co.,  value  of 
appeal  to  children,  562. 

Hand-bills,  ancient,  3. 

Hand,  composition  (type),  325; 
lettering,  when  to  use,   345. 

Handling,  big  jobs,  short  cuts 
in,  398-401;  of  illustration 
ideas,  348;  of  lists,  short-cut- 
ting the,  138-9;  the  direct- 
advertising  reproduction,  395- 
412. 

"Hand-picked"  list,  128. 

Hand-tooling,  367 ;  written  ad- 
dresses, 415. 

Hanging  booklet  by  string,   176. 

Harmonious  color  combinations 
of  cover  or  te.xt  stock  and 
inks,  381-2. 


612 


INDEX 


Harris,   M.    F.,    Adv.   Mgr.,   Ar- 
mour  &   Co.,    experience  with 
direct  advertising,  17. 
Hart,  Schaffner  &  Marx,  appeal 

to  farmers,  how,  536-7. 
Harvard  endowment  fund  adver- 
tising,  528-9. 
Haste,   bugaboo  of  direct   adver- 
tising,   211-13;    in    campaign 
planning  means  waste,  243. 

Headline,    testing    the,    288-9. 

Headlines,  287-8:  and  subheads, 
332-4;  and  subheads  in  letter 
reproductions,  334 ;  and  titles 
are  valuable.  288-9:  attract- 
ing attention  with.  266:  bor- 
dersi  often  work  of  artists, 
243:  first  paragraphs  of  let- 
ters as  headlines,  289. 

Heart-appeal  campaign  of  a 
single  piece,  phenomenal  re- 
turns from  a.  457. 

Height  in  copy.  264. 

Helping  to  sell  life  insurance 
by  direct  advertising.   511-3. 

Herring.  William  H..  as  to 
Marshall,  Field  &  Co..  use 
direct  advertising,   548-9. 

Hersey,  William  A.,  experience 
with  multi-page  letterheads. 
156;  experience  with  No.  0 
envelopes.  169;  functions  of 
sales  promotion  department. 
19:1-5;  one  cent  r«.  two  cent. 
419. 

Highlight  half-tone,  362. 

Hill.  B.  E.,  results  proper  paper 
selection,  375. 

Historical.  1-11:  data.  1-35: 
early  catalogues.  60:  early 
forms.  1 :  first  modern  cata- 
logue. 60. 

Historv  of  direct  advertisine. 
I-ll'. 

"Hit-or-miss"  inclosures.   82. 

Holding  attention  by  typogra- 
phy. 330. 

Holidays,  direv^t -advertising  ap- 
ical timed  with.  2o6. 

Hollingwonh.  H.  L..  interest  in- 


centives, 269;  what  men  buy, 
548;  what  women  buj,  554. 
Hoover     Suction     Sweeper     Co., 
users  of  direct-advertising  ex- 
perience, 32. 

Hot  stamping,  394. 

Hotchkin,  W.  R.,  how  to  ap- 
peal to  men,  464. 

Hotchkiss,  Geo.  B.,  analysis  hu- 
man interest  copy,  276;  analy- 
sis     reason-why      copy,      279. 

Houghton,  E.  F.  &  Co.,  how 
they  protect  lists,  116-7. 

House  organ,  as  builder  of  good 
will,  84;  effective  use  of,  by 
a  bank,  514-5:  first,  3;  in 
blotter  form,  104-5,  543;  in 
export  work,  524:  largest  cir- 
culation in  the  world,  30;  not 
prolific  inquiry  producer,  159; 
poor  producer  of  inquiries, 
72. 

House  organs.  classifications, 
70;  definition,  70;  functions 
of.  71:  results  from.  72:  sizes 
of,  71;   standard  sizes  of.  569. 

Householders,  changes  in  list  of 
dealers,  and.  114; 

Houses,  mail-order,  see  Mail  Or- 
der Houses. 

House-to-house  distribution.  422. 

How.  a  campaign  of  more  than 
one  piece  has  l>een  used  effec- 
tively for  direct  returns  with- 
out salesmen.  465—470:  a 
single  piece  of  direct  adver- 
tising has  been  used  effective- 
ly. 457-464:  a  trust  company 
increased  business  220f^  by 
direct  advertising.  516-7:  an 
average  list  of  householders 
changes,  or  dealer:^,  ll-i-5. 

How  direct  advertising  has  been 
used  effectively,  by  banks, 
trust  companies  and  bond 
houses.  514-10:  by  peculiar 
businesses  and  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  imusual  purposes, 
527-34:  in  selling  giXKis  for 
wholesalers  and  retailers.  406- 
503:    in    appealing    per  anally 


INDEX 


613 


to  men,  548-53;  in  appealing 
personally  to  women,  554-61 ; 
in  appealing  to  children,  562- 
68;  in  appealing  to  farmers, 
535-40;  in  appealing  to  pro- 
fessional men  and  women,  541- 
47 ;  in  conjunction  with  other 
forms  sucii  as  answering  in- 
quiries, etc..  470-87 ;  in  con- 
junction with  salesmen,  471- 
78;  in  foreign  trade  extension, 
520-26;  in  selling  to  whole- 
salers and  retailers  and  their 
.salesmen,  488-95. 
How  Hart,  Schaffner  &  Marx 
appeal  to  fanners,  5.36;  Hart, 
Schaffner  &  Marx  interest  the 
man  hard  to  fit,  551;  humor 
has  been  used  to  apjical  effec- 
tively to  the  architect,  544— 
5;  illustrations,  ideas  are 
handled,  348 ;  International 
Hanp-ester  Company  uses  di- 
rect advertising  to  get  good 
will  of  the  child,  563;  mail- 
order houses  cla-ssify  lists, 
137,  manufacturers  compile 
lists,  1-35-7;  Marshall,  Field. 
&,  Co.,  appeal  to  men,  548- 
9:  not  to  write  copy,  e.xample 
of,  284-5 ;  one  bank  got  new 
savings  accounts,  51.5-C;  one 
wholesaler  ug«s  direct  adver- 
tising to  help  retailers,  50-5- 
6;  pictures  can  be  used  to 
appeal  to  children,  .567:  re- 
tailers use  direct  advertising, 
.508-9:  to  choose  proper  color, 
table.  -3.54;  to  compile  the  list, 
128-.30;  to  get  the  recommen- 
dation of  profe^'sional  men, 
.541-2;  to  keep  track  of  big 
printing  jobs,  .39^-401 :  to  or- 
der printing,  -589-91 ;  to  .se- 
cure names  of  indirect  buyers. 
491;  to  s*ll  big  companies 
^-ia  'ViTCf^t  advertising.  121- 
3:  to  »]\  women,  55'^-^):  to 
study  the  market  and  mar- 
k-Ttier.  219-20:  to  me  the 
•"out*ld<j"     a*     an     attention- 


getter,  164-7;  type  may  be 
set,  325-6;  Uncle  Sam  in- 
terests boys  in  the  Navy,  5.52- 
3;  Victor  Talking  ^lacbine 
Company  invested  nearly 
$100,000  a  year  to  develop 
sales  to  schools,  566-7;  whole- 
salers and  retailers  have  used 
direct  advertising  effectively, 
504-19;  wholesalers  subdivide 
lists,  136-7. 

Hoyt,  Cljas.  W.,  number  pieces 
to    precede    salesmen,    477. 

Hudson,  -J.  L.  Co.,  use  of  direct 
advertising,  507-8;  use  of 
li«t».    1-3.3. 

Hudson  Motor  Car  Co.,  booklet, 
57. 

Hull,  W.  S.,  results  in  selling 
life  insurance,  512. 

Human -interest,  appeal  from 
standpoint  of  advertiser,  277; 
appeal,  when  to  use  the,  276; 
copy.  27-3-6;  copy,  analysis  of, 
276. 

Human  nature,  human-interest 
copy  apf»eal«  to,  275. 

Humor,  in  direct  advertising,  in 
conjunction  with  trade  paper, 
483-5;  must  be  handled  with 
e.ttreme  care.  282-3;  used  to 
appeal  to  architects.  544-5. 

Hurd,  Chas.  W.,  "timed"  mail- 
ing. 237. 

HjTifion,  Geo.  B.,  reaching  den- 
tists. -547. 

Hvpf>thetical  investigation,  an, 
'579-80. 

ldea.<?,    "swapping,"    183. 

Illu.strating,  principle  for  using 
various    metb^^s    of,    -349-50. 

Illustration  ideas,  how  they  are 
handled,  348:  Illustration, 
m'rth^>rl  of,  a-s  charf^oal  draw- 
ing, pen-and-ink  drawing,  f^n- 
cil  drawing,  photograph,  waiih 
drawinj.',  -346-S. 

Illustration,  advance  cards. 
sal<-»rneii.  facing  V);  almana^;, 
-5€;    annouQfTfment   or   g»?neral 


614 


INDEX 


publicity  types  of  direct  ad- 
vertising, 7(3;  answering  in- 
quiries, two  different  methods 
of,  248;  appeal,  continuous, 
by  using  standard  border 
design,  344;  appeal,  dressing 
up  ''outside,"  10(5;  aijpeal,  out- 
side, die  cut  cover,  facitifj  174; 
appeal,  outside,  humorous,  fao- 
ing  175;  appeal,  pictorial, 
341;  appealing  to  parent 
through  child,  508;  appeals, 
new  ways,  facing  108;  appeals, 
novelty,  facing  109;  appeals, 
"personalized,"  to  sell  men  and 
■women  collectively  and  sepa- 
rately, facing  545;  appeals 
to  architects,  facing  544 ; 
appeals,  two  personalized,  226; 
ballot,  to  sell  vacuum  cleaner, 
132;  Ben  Day  treatment,  ex- 
amples, 364;  binding  direct-ad- 
vertising books,  booklets,  cata- 
logues, house  organs,  etc.,  four 
methods  of,  314;  blotters,  fac- 
ing 104;  blotters  in  series, 
103;  blotters,  small,  104; 
booklet,  humorous  appeal,  283  ; 
booklet,  stepped,  304 ;  booklets, 
facing  55 ;  booklets,  more 
effective  than  mechanical  fac- 
tors, facing  300;  booklets, 
series  of  four,  personalized  by 
industries,  facing  230;  book- 
lets, sizes  and  styles,  facing 
54;  booklets,  stiff  covered,  fnc- 
ing  58;  broadsides,  facing  98; 
bulletins,  facing  67;  business 
cards,  hand  lettered  and  type 
set,  343 ;  card,  showing  returns 
for  particular  mail  in  tr.  431  ; 
cards  for  recording  drawings 
sent  out,  439 ;  catalogues, 
different  styles,  facing  59 ; 
chart,  average  percentage  in- 
vested in  direct  advertising. 
20;  chart,  classifications  of 
direct  advertisintj.  41 ;  chart, 
correcting  mailing  lists,  140; 
chart,   how  one  concern   plans 


WTiting  and  production  of  its 
catalogue,  301;  chart,  logical 
steps  in  growth  of  business, 
180;  chart,  mechanical  factors 
of  direct  advertising,  300; 
chart,  mental  processes  of  the 
prospect,  244 ;  chart,  of  clients 
organization  by  an  advertis- 
ing agent,  187;  chart,  organiz- 
ation, importance  of  various 
angles  of  sales  promotion,  186; 
chart,  planning  the  campaign, 
212;  chart,  showing  growth  of 
direct-advertising  department, 
192;  chart,  showing  relative 
importance  of  direct  advertis- 
ing, 20;  chart,  showing  ten  ad- 
vantages of  direct  advertising, 
24 ;  chart,  showing  total 
volume  of  money  spent  dur- 
ing 1919-1920  in  all  forms  of 
advertising,  9;  chart,  sources 
of  names  of  prospects,  125; 
chart,  steps  in  complex  print- 
ing job,  397;  chart,  ten  impor- 
tant things  direct-advertising 
campaign  can  do,  28 ;  chart,  to 
secure  "differentness"  in  art 
work,  351;  chart,  where  does 
buying  impulse  come  from, 
122:  chart,  writing  direct  ad- 
vertising 203;  chase,  a,  fac- 
ing 325 ;  coarse  screen  half- 
tone on  coated  and  book 
papers,  facing  366 ;  color 
chart,  354 ;  cost  and  record 
card,  432;  cost  record,  429; 
cover,  front,  of  first  American 
direct-advertising  booklet,  3 ; 
daily  record  of  circularizing, 
433 ;  die-cut  booklet  sliowing 
how  message  was  adapted  to 
design,  facing  312;  direct-ad- 
vertising reproduced  on  multi- 
graph,  387 ;  electros,  record 
card,  441  ;  engraving,  how  to 
find  depth  of,  where  reduced 
to  certain  widtli,  369;  engrav- 
ings, index  cards  for  record  of, 
440;    envelope    inclosures,    83; 


INDEX 


615 


envelope  inclosures,  used  by 
Telegraph  Co.,  facing  88; 
envelope  record  system,  434 ; 
filing  the  follow-up  by  dates, 
4.35;  folders,  auto-eontained 
and  conventional,  facing  99; 
folders,  different'  folds  of,  308; 
folders,  on  simpler  forms,  78; 
folds,  of  mailing  cards  and 
folders,  308;  follow  through  of 
the  fold.  311;  follow-up  board 
for  handling  large  catalogue, 
400;  follow-up  by  letter  of 
New  York  retailer,  .510;  fol- 
low-up card  record,  437 : 
follow-up.  peculiar,  247;  form 
letter,  imusual  method  of  re- 
producing, 388 ;  form  letters, 
four  methods  of  producing. 
49;  greeting,  birthday,  from 
New  York  concern,  227;  house 
organs,  four  classes,  facing  70; 
how  to  eliminate  waste,  cover 
paper,  412;  how  to  eliminate 
waste,  text  paper,  411;  im- 
print space  should  be  on  direct 
advertising  going  through  dis- 
tributor, facing  313;  inclosuve^ 
"editorial  form."  86:  inclo- 
sures, envelope,  83;  inclosures. 
envelope,  used  by  Telegraph 
Co.,  facing  88 ;  inclosures.  part 
of  campaign  to  better  mail 
service,  89 ;  inserts,  package, 
see  Package  Inserts;  inven 
tory  card,  428;  inventory  of 
items  card,  426;  job  folder, 
430;  kind  of  rough  sketches 
which  assist  artists,  349;  lay- 
out, 405;  layout,  used  in  cata- 
logue to  retailers,  505;  letter, 
printed,  340;  letter,  two  meth- 
ods of  giving  it  personal 
touch,  without  filling  in  name 
and  address,  231;  letter 
used  by  bank  to  new 
residence,  518;  letter  used 
in  connection  with  window  en- 
velope, 163;  letterhead,  add- 
ing illustration  to,  protluces 
increased  returns,  facing  340; 


letterhead,  four-page,  printed, 
facing  46;  letterheads,  mul- 
tiple-page, different  methods 
of  folding  paper  to  make, 
309;  letterheads,  note-size,  fac- 
ing 51;  letterheads,  series  of 
four-page,  facing  47 ;  letter- 
heads, special  folds,  facing  50; 
letterheads,  variations  of  or- 
dinary forms,  facing  46;  line 
engraving,  with  Ben  Day  tint, 
facing  360;  mailing  cards, 
different  folds,  308;  mailing 
pieces,  where  return  card  is 
part  of  piece,  facing  324; 
mailing  sticker,  177;  marking 
of  proof,  406;  novelty  ap- 
peals, facing  109;  outside 
appeal,  die-cut  cover,  facing 
174;  "outside"  appeal,  dress- 
ing up,  166;  outside  appeal, 
humorous,  facing  175;  package 
inserts,  83;  facing  89,93; 
paper,  deckle  edge,  facing 
377;  pencil  drawing,  facing 
347;  perpetual  inventory  card, 
427;  photographic  appeal,  fac- 
ing 346;  portfolios,  facing 
66 ;  post  card,  simpler  forms 
of  direct  advertising,  74; 
postal  card,  "teaser,"  215; 
poster  stamps,  facing  106; 
privately  printed  postal  card, 
447;  record  of  returns.  433; 
record  of  temporary  deliveries, 
428;  reply  and  follow-ups  re- 
ceived in  response  to  inquiry, 
250;  return  card,  given  me- 
chanical and  mental  appeal, 
318;  return  card,  planned  to 
insure  "comeback,"  291;  re- 
turn cards,  290;  retailers' 
record  card,  436;  reverse  zinc 
etching,  361;  "rough  sketch" 
developed  from  report  of  sales- 
men to  artists,  347;  sales- 
men's advance  cards,  facing  80 ; 
"sheet-wise"  and  "work  and 
turn,"  49;  s])ecimen  of  direct 
advertising  planned  for  retail- 


616 


INDEX 


era,  501;  stamps,  poster,  fac- 
ing lOG;  stickers,  mailing,  177; 
subheads  and  side  heads,  use 
of,  335;  syndicated  direct  ad- 
vertising, 234;  title  pages, 
showing  good  balance  and  dig- 
nified appeal,  333 ;  title  pages, 
three  booklets,  showing  hand 
lettering,  facing  332 ;  .  type, 
styles  of,  329 ;  use  of  arrows 
to  clarify  mechanical  illustra- 
tion, 341;  use  of  border  for 
center  spread  of  booklet,  344; 
window  envelope,  letter  used 
in  connection  with,  163 ;  writ- 
ten description  as  submitted 
by  artist's  salesman,  facing 
348. 

Illustrations,  importance  of,  339 ; 
informative  captions  make 
them  effective,  336 ;  methods 
of  producing  artistic,  34,6-8; 
rules  for  ordering,  348-9. 

Imagination,  appeal  in  copy  of, 
266-8. 

Imperial  Life  Assurance  Co.. 
letters  used  by,  511;  8vo, 
book-binders  size,  defined,  578. 

Importance,  of  "copy,"  260;  pri- 
mary, of  paper,  371. 

Imposition,  what  is  meant  by, 
407-8. 

Impression,  conveying  definite, 
277-8;  how  to  make  upon 
prospect,  170-1;  value  of  and 
how  to  secure,  423-4. 

Impressions,  number  of,  from 
engraving  plates,  368. 

Imprint   space,    315. 

Imprinting,  the  simplest  form  of 
tying  up  the  manufacturers' 
advertising  with  distributors' 
business,  497;  a  method  of 
personalizing,  315-6;  costs, 
26,    500. 

Inciting   action    by   copy,   272-4. 

Inclosure,  envelope,  not  for  di- 
rect returns,  90;  its  function, 
82. 

Inclosures,     envelope,     82 ;      en- 


velope, returns  from,  158; 
"hit-or-miss,"  82;  ma-ximum 
results  from,  91;  planned,  82; 
regular,  change  of,  88;  steps 
in  reproduction  of  four-page, 
39.5-0;  three  main  functions, 
84 ;  to  letters,  clipping,  423-4 ; 
two  main  sizes,  88;  unusual 
sizes  of,  309;  with  third  class 
mail,  448-9. 

Increase  consumer  demand,  whole- 
salers   can    also   help   to,    506. 

Increasing  business  of  a  trust 
company  220%  by  means  of 
direct  advertising,   516-7. 

Indexing  of  paper  stencils  or 
metal  plates,  416. 

Indirect,  buyers,  source  of  list 
of,  127;  suggestion,  power  of, 
277-8. 

Individual  names,  what  to  do 
when  not  securable  for  list, 
123. 

Indo-China,  using  direct  adver- 
tising to,  525. 

Industry,  upbuilding  an,  531. 

Information,  type  copy,  274. 

Informative  captions  make  illus- 
trations effective,  336. 

Ingenious  package  inserts,  ex- 
amples of,  96. 

Ingersoll,  Robert  ri.  &  Bro.,  ex- 
perience with  multi-page  let- 
ter-head, 156;  experience  with 
No.  9  envelopes,  169;  func- 
tions of  sales  promotion  de- 
partment, 19.3-5  ;  one  cent  vs. 
two   cent  mailing,   419. 

Inharmonious  colors,   353. 

Initials,  ornaments,  and  cap- 
tions. 336. 

Ink  and  paper  combinations, 
table  of,  381. 

Inks,  harmonious  color  combina- 
tions of  cover  or  text  stock 
and,  381-2. 

Inquiries,  answering,  249-50, 
454,  485-6 ;  checking  up 
through  salesmen.  246-7; 
fallacy  of  judging  direct  ad- 
ring  to  dealers,  249-,')0;  worth 
vertising    by,     148-50;     refer- 


INDEX 


617 


getting    are    worth    following 
up,  246. 
Inquiry    producer,    house    organ 

not  prolific,  159. 
Inserts,  for  repacked  goods.  96; 
package,  91 ;   package,  defined, 
92;   package,  seven  main  clas- 
sifications of,  94  ;  package,  un- 
limited    possibilities     of,     92; 
with  cigarette  packages,  92. 
Inside,      and      outside,      appeal 
coordinating,    167-8;   and  out- 
side, harmonious  matching  of, 
170-1;    of   the    outside,   utiliz- 
ing the,  95,  177-8. 
Institutional       or       educational 

copy,  275. 
Interdependence    of    all     media, 

6,   29,  21.3,  5.32,   5.35,  549. 
Interest,  arousing,  by  copy,  269- 
70;      of     prospect,     eontinous 
campaign    of    direct    advertis- 
ing  to   stimulate.    245. 
Interlocking   of    direct    advertis- 
ing with  other  forms,  479-81, 
552. 
International  Harvester  Co.,  ap- 
pealing to  children,  563. 
Interrelation,   direct   advertising 
and  other  forms,  17,  19;  of  di- 
rect advertising  and  other  me- 
dia,    16;     of    engraving    with 
paper,    chart   showing,    358-9; 
of    mechanical    with    physical 
and   mental    factors,   299-300; 
of    paper    with    other    factors, 
372;    of   typography   and   dis- 
play, 321.     8ee  aJfto  Interlock- 
ing, Interdependence. 
Inventory    of    direct-advertising 
literature,  keeping  the,  426-9. 
Invest  ifjati  on,     an     hypothetical, 

579-80. 
Irving    Xational    Bank,    foreign 

trade  suggestions,  525-6. 
Italic  type  faces,  323. 

Jacobs,  J.  F.,  on  what  a  direct- 
advertising  writer  should  be, 
189. 

James    Manufacturing    Co.,     on   ' 
purpose   of    advertising,    152. 


Japan,  using  direct  advertising 
to,  525-6. 

Jenne,  R.  L.,  securing  attendance 
at  a  convention,   530-1. 

Job,  folder,  430-1;  presses,  410; 
tlirough  the  shop,  following 
the,    396-8. 

Jobber  in  market  analysis,  ques- 
tions to  ask  the,  579-80. 

"Jobbers"  defined,  136. 

Jobbers'    mailing    lists,     136-7. 

Jobber's  (wholesaler's)  coopera- 
tion, securing  the,  491-2. 

Jobs,  short  cuts  in  handling, 
398-401. 

Johns-Manville  Co.,  securing 
lists   of  ultimate  buyers,    127. 

Johnson,  J.  Sidney,  selling  gro- 
cers by  direct  advertising, 
479. 

"Joint  production"  seldom  effec- 
tive,  184-5. 

Jordan,  Edgar  W.,  on  preparing 
"outsides,"   174-5. 

Judicious  spacing   (type)    331. 

Kabo  Corset  Co.,  representative 
on  mailing  lists,  114. 

Kearney,  Paul  W.,  appealing  to 
children,  562. 

Keeping,  a  record  of  drawings, 
photograplis,  etc.,  438-9 ;  a 
record  of  engravings,  439-42 ; 
in  touch  with  dealers  between 
salesmen's  calls^  194-5; 

records  of  the  follow-up,  435- 
8;  records  of  original  mailing, 
431-4;  the  inventory  of  direct- 
advertising  literature,  426-9. 

Kelly    press,    410. 

Kienworthy  Motors  Corp.,  letter- 
head, 47. 

Key  to  personalization  in  classi- 
fication,   142. 

Keving,  mechanical  methods  of, 
319. 

Kinds  of  "outside"  appeals,  161. 

Kingman,  Lewis  E.,  securing 
jobbers   names,   491. 

Kirkgasser  Geo.  J.,  securing 
jobber  cooperation,  491. 


618 


INDEX 


Kiser,  S.  E.,  appealing  to 
women,  558-9;  grammatical 
errors,  common^  294-5. 

Knowledge  of,  audience  in  writ- 
ing "copy,"  261;  mechanical 
problems  means  saving  in 
costs,  410-1;  the  language  in 
writing  "copy,"  261;  the  sub- 
ject   in    writing    "copy,"    261. 

Koons,  John  C,  Hon.,  emphasiz- 
ing poor  addressing,  413. 

Kresge,  S.  S.,  Co.,  advertising, 
529. 

Labor   problems,  solving,   531-2. 

Lack  of,  continuity,  fault  of 
retailers'  campaigns,  overcom- 
ing, 501;  continuity,  weakness 
of  direct  advertising  effort, 
209-11;  inquiries,  success  of 
direct  advertising  often  judged 
by,  148-9. 

Lamson    Co.,    letterhead,    47. 

Language,  knowledge  of,  how 
obtained,  261. 

Larger  business,  preparing  direct 
advertising  in  the,  185-9. 

Lavkin  Co.,  representative  good 
lists,  118;  specimen  of  copy, 
279-81. 

Larned,  W.  Livingston,  type  ts. 
hand   lettering,   343. 

Larter  &  Sons,  referring  in- 
quiries, 249-50. 

Latin  America,  using  direct  ad- 
vertising to,  525. 

Laying  out,  a  page,  331-2;  the 
title-page,  332-3. 

Layout  and  the  dummy,  404-5. 

"Lavout,"  artist's,  347. 

Leads    (type),   325. 

Leads,  salesmen  should  follow  up 
export,    523. 

Least  considered  factor  in  direct 
advertising — paper,  371. 

Leather  covers,  305. 

Ledger  papers,  380. 

Lee,  A.  S.,  and  C.  E.  McDanicI, 
pictorial  letterheads,  value  of, 
340. 


Lees,  James  &  Sons  Co.,  novel 
plan  of  charging  for  direct 
advertising,  217. 

Length,  in  copy,  264 ;  of  effective 
letter,  285;  of  the  follow-up 
(duration),  256-7;  of  time 
between  follow-ups,  257 ;  of 
type  line,  rules  for,  331. 

Letter,  basic  form  of  all  direct 
advertising,  42 ;  circular, 
early,  G;  cost  of  a,  374;  defini- 
tion, 42 ;  example  of  effective 
single,  537-8;  four-page,  that 
produced  over  five  million 
dollars,  461-2;  length  of  effec- 
tive, 285;  personal,  best  for 
returns,  159;  preferable  to 
broadside  in  single-piece  cam- 
paign, 97 ;  reproductions, 
headlines  and  sul)-lieads  in, 
332,  334-5,  reproductions,  un- 
usual, 389;  sales,  analysis  and 
function  of,  44;  sales,  defini- 
tion, 45 ;  shops  and  printers, 
how  they  heli^  prepare  direct 
advertising,  182 ;  shops  and 
printers — why  they  can  ad- 
vise, 183;  that  produced  a 
million  and  a  quarter  for 
charity,  457-9;  which  brought 
70%  action,  557-9. 

Letterhead,  methods  of  folding 
multi-page  sales,  310;  note 
size,  effective  results,  463 ; 
relation  to  letters,  46. 

Letterheads,  classes  of,  43; 
"dramatized,"  111;  folding, 
50 ;  four-page,  effective  use  of, 
467 ;  four-page  sales,  returns 
from,  156-7:  multi-page,  use 
of,  51;  series  idea  in,  47; 
sizes  of,  45;  special  fold  and 
die-cut,   48;    "vitalized,"    111. 

Letterpress  printing,  two  kinds 
of,  391. 

Letter  duplicating.  385-6 ;  effec- 
tive, 42;  first  paragraphs  the 
headlines  of,  289;  form,  im- 
portance of,  51 :  form  para- 
graph   method   of   duplicating, 


INDEX 


619 


386-8;  four  hundred,  that 
sold  401  orders,  460;  functions 
of,  44;  humor  appeal  in,  483- 
5 ;  kinds  of,  43 ;  not  bulk  of 
direct  advertising,  51;  per- 
sonal, returns  from,  compared, 
with  canvassing,  153;  post- 
script in,  307,  334;  re- 
lation of  letterheads  to,  46; 
reproduction  of,  differs,  384-5 ; 
reproductions  handling  of. 
384-5 ;  tests  largely  restricted 
to,  241-2;  to  salesmen,  effec- 
tive, 492-4;  usual  form  of 
follow-up,  246;  variation  of 
physical  forms,  48. 

Lewis,  Norman,  securing  jobber 
cooperation,  491. 

Lewis,  E.  St.  Elmo,  regarding 
returns,   151. 

Life  insurance  by  direct  adver- 
tising, selling,  511-2. 

Lightfoot,  Warren  R.,  three 
fundamentals  of  winning  a 
market,  218. 

Line-engravings  or  zinc  etchings, 
359-60. 

Linen,  cover  papers,  379;  papers 
380. 

Linotype,  the,  326. 

List,  analysis  of  names  for, 
120;  checking  the,  138-9, 
453;  defined,  113;  effect  of 
source  upon  efficiency  of,  128; 
eternal  vigilance  price  of  a 
good,  123,  138-9;  good,  what 
is  a,  118;  "hand-picked,"  128; 
how  to  compile  the,  128-30; 
its  control,  113;  mailing,  care 
in  preparation,  114-0;  mailing 
correcting,  170;  mailing,  for 
jobbers,  136-7;  mailing,  key 
to  successful  use  of,  in  classi- 
fication, 142;  mailing,  protect- 
ing, the,  110;  of  householders, 
changes — dealers,  changes,  1 14- 
5 ;  periodical  advertising  for 
building  up  mailing,  128; 
securing  from  dealers,  500-1 ; 
should  be  verified,  123,  241; 
significance   of,    113—4;    source 


of,  indirect  buyers,  127;  sub- 
classifications  of  retailers', 
130-5;  the,  113-144;  unusual, 
stockholders,  485 ;  using 
buyers  to  help  build,  467-8; 
value  to  a  mail-order  house, 
116;  vital  to  success,  114-6; 
what  to  do  when  individual 
names  canno<t  be  secured  for, 
123. 

Lists,  best,  124;  built-to-order, 
127 ;  effective  for  appealing 
to  large  companies,  121;  filing 
of,  129-30;  good,  not  always 
big  lists,  124;  guaranteed, 
127;  how  classified  by  mail- 
order houses,  137;  how  whole- 
salers, sub-divide,  136-7;  main- 
taining good,  138-9;  manu- 
facturers' compiling,  135-6; 
necessity  for  sub-division  of, 
130;  nine,  in  one,  how  handled, 
131;  of  banks,  514;  poor,  the 
curse  of  direct  advertising, 
117;  quality  judged  by  de- 
creasing returns,  141-2;  re- 
tailers', 130-5;  salesmen's 
reports  as  a  source  of  manu- 
facturers', 136;  securing  names 
of  jobbers,  491-2;  securing 
from  express  agents,  etc.,  124- 
5;  short-cutting  the  handling 
of,  139;  stock,  defined,  127; 
stockholders  as  source,  126 ; 
two  classes  of,  127;  using 
postmasters  to  recheck,  453 ; 
why  variation  in  compiling, 
130. 

Literary  Dir/est,  booklet,  54. 

Lithography,   392-3. 

Lloyd  IMansficld,  one  cent  vs. 
two  cent,  418. 

Local  advertisers,  relative  im- 
portance of  direct  advertising 
to,  19. 

Localize  testimonials,  279. 

Localizing,  mechanically,  the  ap- 
peal, 315-0. 

"Lock-up,"  398. 

Lockwood,  R.  Bigelow,  building 
a   technical    catalogue,    545-6; 


620 


INDEX 


trade  papers  and  direct  adver- 
tising, 483. 

Long-Bell  Lumber  Co.,  bulletins, 
69. 

Loose-leaf  catalogues,  61 ;  or 
booklets,  31.3-4. 

Loose-Wiles  Biscuit  Co.,  charg- 
ing for  direct  advertising,  217. 

Lord,  Geo.  Frank,  use  of  di- 
rect advertising,  479-80. 

Lottery  laws,  watch,  454. 

Louis,  Geo.  L.,  one  cent  vs.  two 
cent,  418. 

Ludowici-Celadon  Co.,  reaching 
professional  man,  545. 

Lum,  Merritt,  stamping  return 
card,  419. 

Luxuries,  selling  by  direct  ad- 
vertising, 474-7. 

Machine  finish  papers,  380. 

MacFarlane  Chas.  A.,  definition 
of   direct   advertising,    15. 

Machinery  for  reproductions, 
sizes    of.    410. 

Mackintosh,  Charles  Henry,  on 
letters,  42;  value  of  pen  and 
ink   signature,  390. 

Magazine,  by  mail,  selling  a 
high  grade.  408-9. 

Mailbag,  investigation  as  average 
direct  advertising  appropria- 
tion, 23. 

Mail,  building  an  export  busi- 
ness entirely  by.  523-4;  col- 
lecting by,  results  of,  469; 
completing  the  sale  of  a  tech- 
nical product  by,  460;  getting 
banking  accounts  by,  519. 

Mail  matter,  forwarding  or  re- 
turning, 450-1 ;  fourtli-class, 
450;  classification  of  domestic, 
444-5;  second-class,  447-8; 
third-class.  448-9 ;  third-class 
mail,  itemized,  449;  what  is 
first-class,*  445. 

Mail-order,  advertising,  essen- 
tials of,  in  directness  and 
clarity.  220-1 ;  book-sellers, 
how  they  use  direct  advertis- 
ing,  465;    business    and   direct 


advertising,  75;  and  direct 
advertising  differentiated,  17- 
8;  business,  list  vital  to, 
137-8;  house,  importance  of 
list,  116;  houses,  classifica- 
tions of,  137;  houses  sources 
of  names  for,  137-8;  houses 
test  and  know,  295;  Sears 
Roebuck  sales  (1919),  7; 
success,  three  keys  to,  novel- 
ty, quality,  and  price,  220; 
use  of  personal  appeal,  229. 

Mail  sales  and  promotion  de- 
partments, functions  of,  193- 
5. 

Mail  salesmen  and  male  sales- 
men, comparative  cost,  471-2. 

Mail,  importance  of,  in  com- 
merce, 8 ;  methods  of  distri- 
bution other  than,  422-3; 
selling  a  high-grade  magazine 
by,  468-9;  selling  a  high- 
priced  product  by,  467 ;  selling 
dogs  by,  481-3;  selling  Te.xas 
steers  by,  530;  using  them  for 
distribution  purposes,  416-7; 
what  can  be  sold  by,  220; 
wholesaling  by,  504-5. 

Mailing  card  and  circular  used 
for  announcements,  81. 

I\railing  card,  four  fold,  75. 

Mailing  cards  and  circulars,  73; 
"billboard"  type,  81 ;  not  for 
direct  results,  81;  returns 
from,  158. 

Mailing  cards,  changes  in.  when 
in  series,  81;  functions  of, 
80;  circulars,  functions  of, 
80;  kinds  of,  75;  private, 
446-7. 

trailing   circulars,   kinds    of,    75. 

^Mailing  conditions  limit  sizes 
of  cards  and  circulars,  81. 

Mailing  co^st,  table  for  figuring, 
420-1  ;  first  and  third  class 
matter  together.  454. 

Mailing  folded  pieces,  necessity 
of  sealing  or  closing,  310. 

Mailing  list,     ffee  List,  flailing. 

Mailing  pieces,  die-cut,  banned 
by   U.    S.    Postal    department. 


INDEX 


621 


174;  new  post  office  ruling  as 
to  space  on  fronts  of,  452-3; 
watch    the    size    in    planning, 
319. 
Mailing^    proof    sheets,   449;    re- 
cords af  original,  431-4;  slips, 
standard     sizes     for,      570-1 ; 
stickers,     17v)-7;     to    Canada, 
454;    without    stamps,   451-2; 
with       pre-canceled       postage 
stamps,  452. 
Mailings,     assorting     the,     416; 
cooperative,     422 ;      first-     vs. 
tliird-class     mailings,     417-9; 
timing,    417;     third-class,    re- 
quire street  address,  119. 
Main  aims  or  purposes    (eight) 
accomplished   by  direct  adver- 
tising,  213-6. 
Maintenance  of  good  lists,   138- 

9,  170. 
Make-ready,  396. 
Making,   a  good  writer  of  copy, 
189-90,    286-7;     a    test    cam- 
paign in  foreign  fields,  523. 
Making  the  same  personal  appeal 
to,   men    and    women — a    com- 
parison,  551-2;    women   as   to 
men — a  comparison,  554-6. 
Making   typography,   attract   at- 
tention, 328-9;  hold  attention 
330. 
Man     hard    to    fit,    how    Hart. 
Schaff'ner     &     Marx     interest 
the,  551. 
Mansfield,       Lloyd,       experience 

with    "penny-savers,"    418. 
Manufacturer,      typical      direct- 
advertising  percentages,   25. 
Manufacturers'     advertising,     to 
tlie      distributor,      value      of, 
496-7;  witli  distributor's  busi- 
ness,  imprinting   the   simplest 
form    of    tying    up    the,    497; 
imprinting    for    retailers,    26, 
500. 
Manufacturers'     lists,     problems 

in  compiling,   135-6. 
Manufacturers,     retailers'     lists 

for  use   of,   135-8. 
Marbled   covers,   379. 


Marchbanks,     Hal,     typography, 

326. 
Margins  of  a  book  pag-e,  331-2. 
Marietta    Paint    &    Color    Com- 
pany,   booklet,  57.  » 
Market      analysis,      a      typical, 
579-83 ;    questions   to   ask   the 
jobber  in,  579-80. 
Market,  analysis  of,  for  list  of 
prospects,   120. 

Market  and  marketer,  how  to 
study  the,  219-20. 

Market  and  marketing  policies, 
analysis  of,  precedes  decision 
as  to  purpose,  216-8. 

Market^  field  of  the  farmer  an 
enormous,  535-6 ;  knowledge 
of,  first  essential  in  foreign 
trade  work,  520-1. 

Market,  the,  219;  winning 
fundamentals  for,  218. 

Marketing  by  mail  difTers  from 
other  forms  of  marketing,  220. 

Marmon  Company,  experience 
with  personalizing.  230-1. 

Marshall  Canning  Co.,  use  of 
direct  advertising  to  sell  gro- 
cers,  479. 

Marshall,  Field  &  Company's 
advertising, — ^why  it  dominat- 
ed 339;  how,  appeal  to  men, 
548-9. 

Martin,  C.  C,  appearance  of  ex- 
port catalogue,  522. 

Matrix,   defined,   367. 

Maximum  results  from  inclo- 
sures,  91. 

McClure,  W.  Frank,  testihg,  241. 

McDaniel,  C.  E.  and  A.  S.  Lee, 
pictorial  letterheads,  value  of, 
340. 

McGraw  Tire  and  Rubber  Co., 
portfolio,    65. 

McJohnston,  H.,  cleverness  in 
copy.  284 ;  value  of  quality  ap- 
peal, 390-1. 

McKenny,  Geo.  F.,  results  from 
proper  paper  selection,  375. 

McQuaig,  C.  B.,  selling  a  city 
to  its  sphool  cliiklren,  530. 


622 


INDEX 


Mechanical  and  physical  factors, 
analysis  of  effect  of,  239-40. 

Mechanical  factor,  sizes  as  a, 
240;  table  of,  303;  value  of, 
'302. 

Mechanical,  appeal  of  cut-out, 
when  to  use  it,  313;  em- 
pliasis  in  letters,  334;  inter- 
relation of,  with  physical  and 
mental  factors,  299-301;  mie- 
thods,  emphasis  in  copy  se- 
cured by,  307-10,  335;  plan- 
ning; mental  appeal  required. 
302 ;  problems,  knowledge  of, 
means  saving  in  costs,  410-1  ; 

Mechanical,  factors  in  direct  ad- 
vertising. 299-4M;  metliods  of 
increasing  effectiveness,  307 ; 
methods  of  keying,  319. 

Mechanically,  planning  the.  num- 
ber of  pages  or  folds,  305-6 ; 
outside  or  cover,  303-5 ;  re- 
turn piece,  310-9;  size  of 
pages  or  folds,  300;  reproduc- 
tion of  picture,  358. 

Media,  application  of,  to  prob- 
lem. 211-2;  classes  of  direct- 
advertising,  40;  interdepend- 
ence of  all,  20;  relative  im- 
portance. 19. 

Men  and  women,  making  the 
same  personal  appeal  to — a 
comparison,  551-2. 

Men  buy  but  few  personal 
things,  548. 

Men,  selling  the,  sporting  goods, 
552. 

Mental  '  and  physical  factors, 
interrelation  of  mechanical 
with,  299. 

iMental  appeal  requires  mechan- 
ical  planning,   302. 

Mental  factors  in  direct-advertis- 
ing. 209-295. 

Menus.  109. 

"Merchants"  defined,  136. 

Message,  folding  must  be  fitted 
to  the,  311-2. 

Metal  address  plates,  indexing, 
416. 


Metal  blocking,  367. 

Metal-plate  machine  for  address- 
ing, 415. 

Method  of  changing  appeal  by 
change  of  physical  form,  253- 
4. 

Method,  of  classification  by 
colored  cards,  142;  of  getting 
back  more  return  cards, 
289-92;  of  keeping  up  with 
appropriation,  426-9;  of  per- 
sonalizing by  imprinting,  315- 
6;  of  testing,  "order  of  merit," 
242-3 ;  used  in  figuring  paper 
stock  for  a  printing  job,  382-3. 

Methods,  five,  of  type  spacing, 
331  ;  mechanical,  of  increasing 
effectiveness,  307;  meclianical, 
of  keying,  319;  of  distribution 
other  than  mails,  422 ;  of  fold- 
ing, 307-10;  of  folding  multi- 
page  sales  letterhead,  310;  of 
illustrating,  principle  for  us- 
ing various,  349;  of  personal- 
izing, 222-5 ;  of  producing  ar- 
tistic illustrations,  346-8;  of 
reproducing  same  message, 
comparison  of  results  from  dif- 
ferent, 389;  of  reproduction, 
classification  of,  384;  several 
of  making  appeal  to  senses 
and  emotions,  277;  two  main, 
of  co-operating  with  salesmen, 
471. 

Metropolitan  magazine,  blotter 
used,  274. 

Metzograph    (half-tone),  363. 

IVIiller,  Robert  E.,  importance  of 
appealing  to  children,  562. 

Mills,  J.  B.,  department  store  use 
direct  advertising,  507;  on 
lists,  133. 

Mourning  color  of  China,  white, 
240. 

^Nlillson,  Richard  H.,  how  to 
reach  architects,  543-4. 

Mimeographed  and  multigraphed 
direct  advertising,  reproduc- 
tion of  simplicity  of,  395. 

^linieographing,  385. 

Mimeographing  and  Multigraph- 
ing,   difference   between,   380. 


INDEX 


623 


Miniature    booklets,    appeal    of, 

240. 
Miniature  editors  of  catalogues, 

62. 
Miscellaneous     engraving     terms 

defined,  3-67. 
Modern    roman    type,    specimen, 

323. 
Monthly  catalogue  to  speed   up 

sales,  506. 
Monotony,      appeals      must      be 

changed  to  avoid,  253-4. 
Monotype  composition,  326. 
Monotype,  the,  326. 
Moore,  Henry  T.,  order  of  merit 

testing,  242. 
Morgan,  Sash  &  Door  Co.,  selling 

direct   advertising   at   $2.50   a 

piece,  218. 
Mortimer  Co.,  the,  booklet,  57. 
Mortise,  the,  367. 
Moss,  Geo.  F.,  on  envelopes,  171. 
Most   copy   partakes   of    all   five 

forms  of  appeal,  279-81. 
Most  unusual  example  of  use  of 

direct  advertising,  534. 
Multigraphed  and  Mimeographed 

direct  advertising  reproduction 

of.  simplicity  of,  395. 
Multigraphing,  385-6. 
Multigrapliing  and  Mimeograph- 
ing, difference  between,  386. 
Multi-page  letterheads,  43. 
Multi-page  sales  letterhead,  me- 
thods of  folding,  310. 
Multiplicity      of      type      styles, 

typography  not,  321-2. 
Murphy,    John    Allen,    checking 

catalogue  of  returns,  157-8. 
Murta,    Duke,    retailers,    use    of 

direct  advertising,  550-1. 

Names,  can  be  bought,  127 ; 
changes  in,  114;  individual, 
what  to  do  when  not  securable 
for  list,  123 ;  sources  of, 
for  mail-order  houses,  137; 
sources  of  prospects',  124-7. 

National  advertisers,  and  direct 
advertising,  479-81 ;  experience 
with  cook  books,  556-7 ;  how 
they     sell     parents     through 


appeals  to  children,  563-5; 
importance  of  the  child  mar- 
ket in  the  eyes  of,  562 ;  rel- 
ative importance  of  direct  ad- 
vertising to,  19;  use  of  direct 
advertising,  22. 

National  Association  of  Purchas- 
ing Agents,  "standardized" 
sizes  of  catalogues,  63. 

National  Biscuit  Co.,  capitaliz- 
ing a  famous  stunt,  531. 

National  Cash  Register  Co.,  list, 
141. 

National  City  Bank,  use  of 
direct   advertising,   517. 

National  City  Co.,  experience 
with  follow-up,  255-6. 

National  days,  weeks,  etc.,  timed 
direct  advertising  with,  235- 
6. 

National  League  of  Commission 
Merchants,  booklet,  55. 

National  Metal  Molding  Co., 
bulletin-catalogue,  G8. 

National  Paper  &  Type  Co.,  ex- 
port catalogue,  522-3. 

Navy,  how  Uncle  Sam  interestfl 
boys  in  the,  552. 

Necessity  for  subdivision  of  lists, 
130. 

Negative  etching,  367. 

New  dealers  in  ninety  days,  a 
campaign  that  secured  488^ 
90. 

New  Jersey  Zinc  Co.,  use  of 
humor,  in  reaching  architects, 
544;  Post  Office  ruling  as  to 
space  on  fronts  of  mailing 
pieces,  452-3. 

"News,"  copy  definition  of,  274. 

"News,"  copy  plays  up  news 
features,  274. 

News-tone    (half-tone),   362. 

Nichols,  G.  A.,  value  of  pictures, 
342. 

Novel,  direct  advertising,  177; 
envelopes,    161-2;    letters,    43. 

Novelties,  in  direct  advertising, 
examples,  108;  offered  for 
lists,    124-5. 


624 


INDEX 


Novelty,  appeal  in  copy  of,  268; 
forms  of  direct  advertising, 
107;  quality,  and  price  three 
keys  to  mail-order  success,  220- 
1. 

Kumber,  of  inclosures  confusing, 
90;  of  impressions  from  en- 
graving plates,  368;  of  pages 
or  folds,  planning  meclianical- 
ly  the,  306;  of  pages  to  use 
in  booklets,  house  organs,  cata- 
logue, etc,  305 ;  of  times  to 
follow    up,    255-6. 

Objections,  overcoming,  by  copy, 
271-2. 

Oblong,  binding,  313. 

O'lirien*  Varnish  Co.,  dealer  ad- 
vertisement, 500. 

Odd-shaped  pieces,  appeal  of, 
313. 

Office  forms,  standard  sizes  for, 
570-1. 

Official  envelope  sizes,  572. 

Officials,  classifications  of,  143. 

Ofi'set  papers,  380;  process,  392. 

O.  K.  of  technical  details,  407. 

Old  style  roman  type,  323. 

One  cent  vs.  two  cent,  417-9. 

Order  blanks  and  postal  cards  as 
"come-backs,"  292-4. 

"Order  of  merit"  method  of  test- 
ing, 242. 

Order  printing,  how  to,  589-01. 

Ordering  engravings,  368-9 ; 
illustrations,  rules  for,  348-9; 
paper,    specifications    for,    378. 

Orderly  arrangement  of  typogra- 
phy, 330. 

Orders,  four  hundred  letters  that 
sold  401,  460. 

Ornaments,   336. 

Organization  of  a  sales  promo- 
tion department,   193-5. 

Organizing  a  direct-advertising 
department,   points  on,   191. 

O'Slianghnessey,  James,  impor- 
tance of  direct  advertising,  22. 

Outlined  and  vignetted  half-tone, 
362. 

"Outlook"  envelopes,   162. 


Outside  and  inside,  appeals  coor- 
dinating, 167-8;  harmonious 
matching  of,  170-1. 

"Outside,"  appeals,  kinds  of, 
101;  counsel  in  direct  adver- 
tising, what  he  does,  202-4; 
dress,  what  changes  in,  mean 
to  users  of  the  follow-up,  168; 
function  of  tlie,  163-4;  help 
has  accomplished  examples  of 
what,  201-2;  how  it  may  gain 
attention,  164-7;  its  impres- 
sion, 170-1;  mailing  stickers 
for,  176-7;  or  cover,  planning 
mechanically  the,  303-5; 
policy  in  circularizing  general- 
ly, 169-70;  securing  attention 
by  means  of  the,  168-9;  select- 
ing the,  a  plan  for,  176;  ser- 
vices, using,  in  preparing  di- 
rect advertising,  197;  specialist, 
five  requirements  of  the,  197-9; 
specialists,  securing  the  aid 
of,  185-8;  the,  161-78;  used 
serially,  172;  utilizing  the  in- 
side of  the,  95,  177-8;  view- 
point, value  of,  197. 

"Outsides,"  difference  in,  172- 
4;  planning  of,  for  booklets, 
catalogues,  etc.,  174-5;  sub- 
divisions of,  171-2;  when  to 
order,    176. 

Owen,  0.  A.,  effective  card  mail- 
ing, 463. 

Package  inserts,  91;  defined,  92; 
differ  from  envelope  inclo- 
sures, 97;  ingenious  examples 
of,  96;  premiums  (examples), 
95;  seven  main  classifications, 
94;  tracing  results  from.  96; 
unlimited  possibilities,  92. 

Packages,  distribution  by  means 
of,   422. 

Page,  margins  of  a  book,  331- 
2;  proportions,  30f);  size,  rela- 
tion to  paper,  305 ;  sizes, 
(trimmed),  .569-70;  title,  lay- 
ing out,   332. 

Pages,  arrangement  of  special, 
332 ;  or  folds,  planning  me- 
chanically the  number  of,  305; 


INDEX 


625 


or  folds,  planning  mechanical- 
ly the  sizes  of,  306;  "stepped" 
arrangement   of,  304. 

Paper,  and  ink  combinations, 
table  of,  381;  consumption, 
statistics  of,  372;  deckle 
edge,  376;  interrelation  of, 
with  other  factors,  372;  its 
folding  quality,  374 ;  least  con- 
sidered factor  in  direct  adver- 
tising, 371. 

Paper  Makers'  Advertising  Club, 
virhere  direct  advertising  can 
be  used,  29. 

Paper  manufacturers'  education- 
al campaigns,  371. 

Paper,  of  primary  importance, 
371;  or  ink,  or  both,  to  secure 
colo'r,  351-2;  physical  char- 
acteristics of,  373;  psychology 
of,  376-7;  relation  of  half- 
tone screens  to,  364-5;  rules 
for  selection  of,  373;  saving, 
177;  selection,  results  from, 
375-6;  specifications  for  or- 
dering, 378;  standard  sizes 
body  and  cover  stocks,  569-70; 
-stencil  machine  for  address- 
ing, 415;  stencil  or  metal 
plates  may  be  indexed,  416; 
stock,  figuring,  for  a  printing 
job,  382-3;  stock,  selecting 
the  right,  373;  technical  terms 
for,  378;  the,  371-83;  weight 
of  dummies,  420-1 ;  what  is 
meant  by  "substance  weight" 
of,  575. 

Papers,  bond,  egg  shell,  ledger, 
linen,  machine  finish,  offset, 
sized  and  supercalendered, 
380;  relation  of  page  size  to, 
305;  standard  sizes  and 
weights  of  cover,  577 ;  stan- 
dardization of,  575 ;  two  main 
classifications  of,  377;  varie- 
ties of  text,  well  standar- 
dized, 380. 

Paragraphs,  effective  opening, 
511-2;  first,  287;  first,  the 
headlines      of      letters,      289; 


form,      254-5 ;      standardized, 
386,  8. 

Parcel  Post  (fourth-class  mail 
matter),   450;    rates,   450. 

Parents,  selling  the  children  and 
througli   them   their,   5'63-5. 

Parsons,  Frank  A.,  color  har- 
mony,  357. 

Pasted  bindings,   315. 

Patterson-Kelly  Co.,  experience 
with  jazz  letters,  225; 

"Paving  the  way"  by  salesmen's 
advance  cards,  471-2. 

Pay  envelope  sizes,  574. 

Peculiar  businesses  which  have 
effectively  used  direct  adver- 
tising, 527-30. 

Pen-and-ink   drawing,   345. 

Pencil  drawing,  345. 

Penny-saver  envelopes,   162,  418. 

Pepsodent  Co.,  example  of  fol- 
low-up, 252. 

Percentages  of  appropriations  in 
direct  advertising,  22;  selling 
cost  where  direct  advertising 
used,  30;  typical  department 
store,  in  direct  advertising, 
27 ;  typical  manufacturer  in 
direct  advertising,  25;  typical 
retailers  in  direct  advertis- 
ing,  27. 

Period  between  follow-ups,  fac- 
tors  deciding,   256-7. 

Periodical  advertising  for  build- 
ing up  mailing  list,128;  check- 
ing up  lists,  138-41. 

Permissible  inclosures  third 
class  mail,  449-50. 

Permits,  using,  for  mailings, 
451-2. 

Persistent  or  wear-out  follow- 
up,  251 ;  frequently  antago- 
nize,   251-2. 

Personal    angle,    how    to    main- 
tain,   18.3-5. 
Personal  appeal,  a,  that  swamped 
a     firm     with     returns,     553 
in     direct     advertising,     142 
variations     of     the,     229-33 

Personal    letter,    definition,    43 
best  for  returns,  159;  returns 


626 


INDEX 


from,  153;  personal  things, 
men  buy  but  few,  548;  per- 
sonal touch,  handwritten  ad- 
dress adds,  415. 

Personalize  testimonials,  278-9; 
the  appeal,  does  it  pay  to, 
228-9. 

Personalized  appeal,  effective 
campaigns  those  making,  225- 
8;  direct  advertising,  ex- 
amples of,  474. 

Personalizing,  imprinting  as  a 
method  of,  315-6;  methods  of, 
229-33;  of  dealers'  pieces, 
233;  what  it  depends  upon, 
228. 

Personalization  based  on  self-in- 
terest, 143,  229-33;  by  fiUing- 
in,  229;  classification  the  key 
to,  142. 

Phenomenal  returns  from  a 
heart-appeal  campaign  of  a 
single  piece,  457. 

Philippines,  using  direct  adver- 
tising to,   526. 

Phoenix  Mutual  Life  Insurance 
Co.,  use  of  direct-advertising 
results,  512-3. 

Photo-gelatin  process,  393. 

Photograph   envelope    sizes,   573. 

Photographic  covers,  304;  treat- 
ment of  illustration,  346. 

Photographs,  keeping  records  of, 
438-9. 

Physical,  and  mechanical  fac- 
tors, analysis  of  effect  of, 
239-40;  and  mental  factors, 
interrelation  of  mechanical 
with,  299. 

Physical  appeal,  board  covers  as 
a,  176;  to  the  prospect,  161. 

Physical,  characteristics  of 
paper,  373;  classifications,  re- 
sults of  their  use,  457-568; 
factors  in  direct  advertising, 
37-205;  form,  method  of 
changing  appeal  by  change  in, 
253-4 ;  forms,  definitions  of 
various  methods  of  reproduc- 
ing, 391 ;  of  direct  advertising, 
same   copy   for   all,   286;    pic- 


tures usable  in  all,  339; 
planning  the,  302-3;  returns 
from  several  typical,  152. 

Pica  typewriter  type,  322. 

Pictorial,  and  color  display, 
339-358;  displays,  339. 

Pictorialized  letterheads,  43. 

Picture,  mechanically  reproduc- 
ing the,  358;  must  be  right 
picture,  342 ;  "syndicated," 
342;  universal  appeal  of,  339; 
value  of  proof,  463. 

Pictures,  can  be  used  to  appeal 
to  children,  how,  567;  import- 
ant in  reaching  foreign  mar- 
ket, 521 ;  usable  in  all  phys- 
ical forms,  339. 

Pieces,  personalizing  of  dealers', 
233. 

Pierce,  Martin  L.,  as  to  effective- 
ness direct  advertising.  32; 
continuity  of  thought,  286-7. 

Place  of  direct  advertising  in 
business,  '  12-35;  director  of 
direct  advertising,  204;  of  the 
"free-lance"  writer  in  prepar- 
ing direct  advertising,  19.5-7. 

Plan  and  copy,  a  chart  that  will 
help  you  to  check  up  both, 
584-6. 

Plan,  of  attack  influences  re- 
turns,  152;   of  letters,  42. 

Planned   inclosures,    82. 

Planning,  a  campaign,  five 
fundamentals  in,  211;  board 
used  in  preparing  big  cata- 
logue, 400;  haste  in  campaign, 
means  waste,  243 ;  house 
organs,  71;  mailing  pieces,  im- 
portance of  size,  319;  mechan- 
ically, the  number  of  pages 
or  folds,  305;  mechanically 
the  outside  or  cover,  303-5; 
mechanically  the  size  of  pages 
or  folds,  306;  mechanically 
the  return  piece,  316-9;  men- 
tal appeal,  requires  mechan- 
ical, 302 ;  multi-page  letter- 
heads, 51;  of  striking  phys- 
ical outsides  for  booklets, 
catalogues,  etc.,  174-5;  port- 
folios,   06;    proper    page    pro- 


INDEX 


627 


portions,  330;  requires  time, 
211-3;  the  campaign,  207- 
243;  the  follow-up,  244-259; 
the  physical  forms,  302-3;  the 
physical  forms  from  a  mechan- 
ical standpoint,.  299-320; 
typography,  four  essentials  in, 
336^7. 

Plant  publications.  See  House 
Organs  a^id  Employees'  House 
Organs, 

Plate,  combination,  360;  cover 
papers,  378-9;  embossing,  367. 

Plates,  curved,  in  printing,  391. 

Play  to  the  public,  selling  a, 
.532-3. 

Pocket  editions  of  catalogues, 
61. 

Point  system,  324. 

Points  on  organizing  a  direct  ad- 
vertising  department,    191-3. 

Policy,  envelopes,  574;  in  regard 
to  "come-backs,"  292-4;  of 
securing  aid  of  outside 
specialists,  18'5-9. 

Poor  lists,  curse  of  direct  ad- 
vertising,  117. 

Portfolio  definition,  64. 

Portfolios,  envelope  sizes,  573; 
functions  of,  66;  kinds  of,  64; 
sizes  of,  68;  (standard  sizes) 
569. 

Possibilities  of  package  inserts 
unlimited,  92. 

Post  cards,  445;  government, 
446. 

Postage,  bill  of  average  person, 
7;  class  to  use,  417-9  first- 
class  rate,  446;  prepaying, 
417;  second-class  rate,  447-8; 
startling  members  of  under- 
paid foreign  pieces,  520-1 ; 
thirdjclass  rate,  448-9. 

Postal  cards,  446-7 ;  and  order 
blanks  as  "come-backs,"  292- 
4;   sizes  of,  446-7. 

Postal  guide,  U.  S.,  444;  laws 
and  regulations,  governing  ad- 
dresses, 119-20;  requirements, 
444-454. 

Poster  stamps,  105;  defined,  106. 


examples,  106;  supplementary, 
106. 

Postmasters,  using,  to  recheck 
lists,  453-4. 

Post-office,  bans  die-cut  mailing 
pieces,  174;  ruling,  new,  as  to 
space,  on  fronts  of  mailing 
pieces,  452-3;  ruling  on, 
addresses  of  mail  matter, 
119-20. 

Postscript  in  form  letters,  307. 

Power,  of  direct  suggestion, 
277-8;  of  indirect  suggestion, 
277-8. 

Practical  and  profe^ssional 
classes,  541. 

Pratt  &  Lambert,  Inc.,  port- 
folio ("Letters  on  Wood 
Finishing"),   65. 

Pratt,  V.  E.,  handling  by  cata- 
logues, 399-401;  mail  order 
test  of  copy,  295. 

Precanceled  postage  stamps, 
mailing  with,   452. 

Preceding  salesmen  with  direct 
advertising,  Buroughs  "Club," 
plan  of,  472-4. 

Premium  wrappers  and  inserts, 
95. 

Preparation,  planning  requires 
time,  211-3;  unusual  angles 
of,  190-1. 

Preparing,  and  estimating  copy 
for  printer,  401-3;  catalogue, 
planning  board  used  in,  399- 
401;  direct  advertising,  in  the 
larger  businesses,  185-9 ; 
direct  advertising,  place  of  the 
"freelance"  writer  in,  195-7; 
direcjt  advertising,  qujestion 
arises,  181;  training  in,  172- 
3,  286-7. 

Prepaying  postage,  417. 

"Presentation   stickers,"   316. 

Press,  Kelly,  410. 

Presses,  cylinder,  410;  job,  410. 

Price,  novelty  and  quality,  three 
keys  to  mail  order  success, 
220-1;  of  a  good  list,  eternal 
vigilance,     123. 

Prices,    selling    an    increase    in. 


628 


INDEX 


279-81;    should  be  printed  in 
export  cataloguCj  521. 

Pricing  your  direct  advertising, 
217-8. 

Primary  colors,  352;  importance 
of  paper,  371. 

Principle,  for  using  various 
methods  of  illustrating,  349- 
50 ;  underlying  charging 
dealers  for  direct  advertising, 
501-2. 

Principles,  three,  of  writing 
good  copy,  2G5-6. 

Printed  reproduction,  copyright- 
ing the,  407. 

Printers,  and  letter  shops,  why 
they  can  advise,  183;  counsel 
in  direct  advertising,  200-1; 
letter  shops  and,  how  they 
help  in  preparing  direct  ad- 
vertising,  182. 

Printing,  and  paper,  359,  372; 
curved  plates  in,  391;  deliui- 
tion  of,  391;  early,  5;  liat- 
bed,  391;  handling  of  simple 
job,  395;  helping  track  of  pro- 
gress of  large  job,  399-401; 
how  to  order,  589-91;  indus- 
try, value  of  investment  in,  8; 
invention,  1;  job,  following 
the,  396-8;  job,  method  used 
in  figuring  paper  stock  for, 
381-3;  offices,  service  depart- 
ments of,  183;  possibilities  of 
engravings,  359;  process,  391; 
rank  as  a  business,  5;  rotary, 
391;  sheet-wise,  408;  specifi- 
cation, 589-91;  shop-waste  al- 
lowance, 383;  time  required 
for,  398;  two  kinds  of  letter- 
press, 391;  work-and-turn, 
408. 

Private  mailing  cards,  44G-7. 

Problems,  solving  labor,  531-2. 

Procedure  when  individual  name 
cannot  be  secured  for  list, 
123. 


Process,  Ben  Day,  364;  oflFset, 
392;  photo-gelatin,  393;  print- 
ing, 391;  reproduction  of 
mimeographed  and  multi- 
graphed,  simplicity  of,  395. 

Producer  of  inquiries,  house  or- 
gan not  prolific,   159. 

Products  sold  by  reason-why 
copy,  279. 

Professional,  and  practical 
classes,  541;  classes,  samples 
to,  541-2;  men,  how  to  get 
the  recommendation  of,  541-2. 

Proof,  reading  the,  405;  sheets, 
rate  of  mailing,  449;  that  a 
series  of  appeals  pay,  469. 

Proportions  of  catalogue  page, 
306. 

Prospect,  card  data  visualizing 
the,  129-30;  physical  appeal 
to  the,  161;  study  the  gauge 
appeal,  222-5. 

Prospects,  classifications  of,  246; 
distribution  to  right,  121. 

Prospects'  House  Organ,  70. 

Prospects'  names,  sources  of, 
124-7. 

Prospectus,    See  Portfolio. 

Protection,  necessity  of,  for  mail- 
ing list,    116-7. 

Psychological,  appeals  of  vari- 
ous colors,  356;  tests  of  colors, 
355. 

Psychology,  of  colors,  355;  of 
paper,  376-7. 

Publication  and  direct  advertis- 
ing interlocking,  246. 

Publicity,  general,  12;  work, 
direct  advertising  should  be 
synchronized  with,   185.-9. 

Pulling  business  from  dentists, 
546-7. 

Purchases  influenced  by  child- 
ren, 562-3 ;  two  classes  of  men 
who  influence,  541. 

"Purchasing  agent,"  woman  the, 
of    the    average    home,    554; 


INDEX 


629 


standardized  sizes  of  cata- 
logues, 63. 

Purpose,  analysis  of  aim  or, 
213-6;  in  writing  "copy,"  262; 
real,  of  direct  advertising,  152; 

Purposes,  of  reminder  served  by 
blotter,  105;  or  aims,  exam- 
ples of,  221-2.- 

Quads,  324. 

Quality,  Novelty,  and  Price 
three  keys  to  mail-order  suc- 
cess 220-1. 

Quarter-tone   (halftone),  367. 

Quarto,   defined,   578. 

Questionable  advertising  schemes, 
banks  the  victims  of  many, 
514. 

Questions,  for  consumers,  583; 
to  ask  distributors,  581-2;  to 
ask  the  jobber  in  market  an- 
alysis, 580-1 ;  to  ask  the  re- 
tail dealers,  581;  to  bottlers, 
582-3;   to  test  headlines,  288. 

Racks  distribution  by  means  of, 
422. 

Ixailroad    time-tables,    110. 

Eate,  of  first-class  matter,  446; 
of   postage,   third-class,  448-9. 

Rates,  parcel-post,  450. 

Razor  Ulades,  selling  by  mail, 
idea  of  sharpening,  467-8. 

Reaching,  foreign  market 
through  pictures,  521;  stu- 
dents, 532,  566. 

Reading  the  proof,  405-7. 

Rearrangement  of  copy  improves 
results,  265. 

Reasons  that  influence  women  to 
buy,  559-60. 

Reason-why  copy,  277-8;  pro- 
ducts sold  by  means  of,  279; 
testimonials  in,  278-9;  when 
to  use,  279. 

Re-checking  lists  by  using  post- 
masters, 453-4. 


Eecipe-book  a  standby  in  appeal- 
ing to  wo^men,  556-7. 

Recommendation  of  professional 
men,  how  to  get  the,  541-2. 

Record,  oi  cost  of  individual 
pieces,  429-31;  of  drawings, 
photographs,  keeping  a.  438-9; 
of  engravings,  keeping  a,  439- 
43. 

Records,  keeping,  of  the  follow- 
up,  434-8;  obviate  guess  work, 
442;  of  original  mailing,  431- 
4;  the,  425-443;  three  classes 
of,  kept  in  ordinary  campaign, 
425. 

Reductions  (plates),  368-9. 

References,  foreign  trade  use  of 
direct  advertising,  524-5;  on 
selling  goods  for  wholesalers 
and  retailers,  502-3 ;  on  sell- 
ing the  dealer  (retailer),  490- 
1 ;  on  use  of  direct  advertising 
with  other  forms,  485-7;  to 
retailers  using  direct  adver- 
tising, 511;  to  selling  farm 
field,  540;  references  to  cam- 
paigns of  two  or  more  pieces 
without  salesmen,   470. 

Referring  inquiries  to  dealers, 
249-50. 

Regular  inclosures  changed,  88; 
8vo  bookbinders  size  defined, 
578. 

Reiley,  Alan  C,  on  "follow 
through"  principle,  312. 

Reiss,  A.  J.,  one  cent  vs.  two 
cent  mailings,  418. 

Relation  of  engraving  and  art 
work,  358;  of  half-tone  screens 
to  paper  stocks,  3G4-5. 

Remington  Typewriter  Co.,  rep- 
resentative on  follow  through 
principle,  312;  representatives 
suggestion  on  copy-writing, 
286-7. 

Requirements,  five,  demanded  of 


630 


INDEX 


the  outside  specialist,   197-8; 
postal,  444-54. 

Repacked  goods,  inserts  for,  96. 

Reproducing,  physical  forms, 
definitions  of  various  methods 
of,  391-4;  same  message,  com- 
parison of  results  from  differ- 
ent methods  of,  389;  the  pic- 
ture,  358. 

Reproduction,  classification  of 
methods  of,  384;  copyrighting 
the  printed,  407 ;  handling  the, 
395-412;  of  four-page  inclo- 
sure,  steps  in,  395-6;  of  let- 
ters differs,  384-5;  of  multi- 
graphed  and  mimeographed 
direct  advertising,  simplicity 
of,  395;  the,  384-94;  the  fill- 
in  and  its,  389-91, 

Reproductions,  headlines  and 
subheads  in  letter,  334;  sizes 
of  machinery  for,  410;  unusu- 
al, 392-3,4. 

Results,  a.  folder  which  pro- 
duced, followed  by  salesmen, 
459-60;  campaign  to  semi- 
professionals,  542-3;  compari- 
son of  using  different  methods 
reproduction,  389 ;  defined, 
145;  from  broadsides,  100; 
from  catalogues,  64;  from 
charitable  campaigns,  201, 
202;  from  fill-in,  389-91;  from 
house  organs,  72 ;  from  human 
interest  copy,  275-6;  from 
package  inserts,  94;  from  pa- 
per selection,  375-6;  from 
portfolios,  68;  from  use  of 
booklets,  60;  from  various 
classes  of  follow-ups,  258 ; 
general,  from  direct  advertis- 
ing, 30;  improved  by  rear- 
ranged copy,  265 ;  improving 
letters,  by  type  used,  322; 
of  clipping  inclosures  to  let- 
ters, 423  ;  of  timed  campaigns, 
237 ;     pen-and-ink     signature, 


390;  perfect  addressing,  414 
quality  appeal,  390-1;  returns 
and  various  Chapters  in  Part 
V,  457-568;  single  letter,  537- 
8;  what  is  meant  by  "good" 
returns  and  "good,"  145-7. 
Retail  dealers,  questions  to  ask 

the,  581. 
Retailer    and    wholesaler,    addi- 
tional    references     on     selling 
goods  for,  502-3;   and  whole- 
saler,  two  different  phases  of 
the  problem  of  selling  to,  488 ; 
relative    importance    of    direct 
advertising  to,  19;   use  of  di- 
rect   advertising    for,     557-9, 
565. 
Retailers,    direct   advertising    to 
reach,  19;  how  one  wholesaler 
uses  direct  advertising  to  help, 
505-6 ;  imprinting  for,  cost  of, 
26,    500;     large    users    of    en- 
velope   enclosures,    158;    over- 
coming     lack      of      continuity, 
in    campaigns    for,    501 ;    rule 
as     to     preparation     of     copy 
for,     502 ;     to    be    considered, 
three    types    of,    506 ;    typical 
direct-advertising    percentages, 
27;      use     direct     advertising, 
how,  508-9 ;  use  of  "timed"  ap- 
peals,     236 ;      using      current 
events    in    direct    advertising, 
549-51;   using  direct  advertis- 
ing,   additional    references    to, 
511. 
Retailers'   list,    subclassifications 
of,    131-5;    for    use    of   manu- 
facturers,   133-4;    sources    of, 
130-5. 
Return      card      results,      316-9; 
stamping   the,    419-20;    meth- 
ods    of    getting    more     back, 
292-4. 
Return   piece,   planning  mechan- 
ically  the,   316-9. 
Returns,  a  broadside  smash  that 
produced  over  thirty  per  cent, 
462-3;  a  personal  appeal  that 


INDEX 


631 


swamped  a  firm  with  returns, 
553;  and  results,  difference 
between,  147-8;  defined,  145; 
examples  of,  148-50 ;  fore- 
casting by  tests,  241;  from 
blotters,  159;  from  booklets, 
157;  from  catalogues,  157-8; 
from  envelope  inclosures,  158- 
9;  from  folders,  159;  from 
form  or  circular  letters,  153-6; 
from  four-paged  sales  letter- 
heads, 156-7;  from  mailing 
cards  and  circulars,  158;  from 
personal  letters,  153;  frota 
personalizing,  228-9 ;  from 
several  typical  physical  forms, 
152;  getting  more  cards  back, 
292-4;  increased  by  improved 
better  title,  288;  influenced  by 
plan  of  attack,  152;  of 
Burroughs  Adding  Machine 
Co.,  from  direct  advertising, 
151;  or  results,  145;  personal 
letter  best  for,  159;  some 
general  data  on,  150-2;  the, 
145-160;  vary  greatly  with 
offer,  147. 

Reversed   zinc  etchings,   360. 

Revision  of  list,  123,  138-9. 

Right  paper  stock,  selecting  the, 
373. 

Ringling  Brothers  advertising, 
529: 

Robbins,  H.  D.,  media  for  banks, 
519. 

Robuett,  Geo.  W.,  on  envelopes, 
172-4. 

Roman  type,  modern  specimen, 
323 ;  Roman  type,  old  style 
specimen,    323. 

Rope,  R.  B.,  experience  with 
postmasters  re-checking  lists, 
454 ;  on  essentials  good  list, 
118-9. 

Rotarian,   letterhead,  50. 

Rotary  printing,  391. 

Royal  8vo,  bookbinders  size,  de- 


fined, 578;    size  of  paper,  de- 
fined, 577. 

Rule,  as  to  returns  to  expect, 
148-^50;  for  deciding  use  of 
first-class  or  third-class  mail, 
417-8;  to  be  followed  in 
charging  dealers  for  direct  ad- 
vertising, 501-2. 

Rules,  for  addressing,  119-20; 
for  length  of  type  line,  331 ; 
for  making  most  of  folder  out- 
side, 174-5;  for  ordering 
illustrations,  348-9;  for  selec- 
tion of  paper,  373-4;  for  writ- 
ing copy  for  retailers,  502; 
governing  type  displaying, 
328. 

Ruling,  new  post-office  as  to 
space  on  fronts  of  mailing 
pieces,  452-3;  of  post  office  on 
addresses,  119. 

"Running   around"    (type),  326. 

Russell,  Thomas,  on  Church  of 
England   advertising,    528. 

Ruxton,  Robert,  continuity  of 
direct  advertising,  209. 

Saddle  wiring  or  stitching,  315; 

Safe,  reason-why  copy  usually, 
277. 

Sale,  five  steps  of  a,  260. 

Sales,  letter,  analysis  and  func- 
tion of,  44;  letter,  defined, 
45;  letterheads,  43;  letter- 
heads, returns  from  four- 
paged,156-7;  many  inquiries 
may  mean  few,  148-50;  pro- 
motion-by-mail department, 
functions  of  a,  193-5;  pro- 
motion department,  organiza- 
tion of  a,  191-3;  to  schools, 
how  Victor  Talking  Machine 
Co.  invested  nearly  $100,000 
a  year  to  develop.  566-7. 

Salesm,en,  a  folder  which  pro- 
duced results  followed  by, 
459-60 ;  additional  references 
on  campaigns  preceding,  477 } 


632 


INDEX 


additional  references  to  cam- 
paigns backing  up,  477-8; 
checking  inquiries  through, 
246;  comparative  cost  of 
mail  and  male,  471-2; 
educational  work  on  dis- 
tributors and,  494;  efforts 
supplemented  by  direct  adver- 
tising, 465;  failed  to  do,  doing 
what,  533;  serving  distributor 
by  advertising  to,  492-4; 
should  follow  up  export  leads, 
523;  the  catalogue  in  foreign 
fields,  a,  521-3;  the  term 
follow-up  used  in  connection 
with,  253;  to  generally  assist, 
194-5;  two  main  methods  of 
cooperating  with,  47 1 ;  where 
mail  was  superior  to,  467. 

Salesmen's,  advance  cards,  79, 
233;  "paving  the  way"  by, 
105,  471-2;  variation  of,  80; 
salesmen's  house  organ,  70; 
reports  as  a  service  of  manu- 
facturers' lists,  136. 

Samples,  to  professional  class, 
541-2;  women  susceptible  to, 
557-9. 

Sampling,  as  a  mechanical 
appeal,  307;  as  an  appeal, 
223 — 4;  furniture,  527;  via 
Uncle  Sam,  527. 

Sands,  Edwin,  insufficiently  pre- 
paid foreign  mail,  521. 

Satisfying  caution  by  copy,  271- 
2. 

Sauer,  Paul,  foreign  trade 
essentials,  520. 

Saving  in  costs,  knowledge  of 
mechanical  problems  means, 
410-11. 

Savings  accounts,  how  one  bank 
got  new,  51.5-6. 

Scaling  drawings,  photographs, 
etc.,  368. 

Schilling,  A.  &  Co.,  portfolio,  65. 

Schools,  how  Victor  Talking 
Machine    Co.    invested   nearly 


$100,000  a  year  to  develop  saleS 
to,  566-7;  using  direct  adver- 
tising, 529. 

Screens  (half-tone),  relation  of, 
to  paper  stocks,  364-5;  to  use, 
364-5. 

Sealed  or  otherwise  closed, 
folded  pieces  must  be,  310. 

Sears,  Roebuck  &  Co.,  1919  sales, 
7;  use  of  inside  of  "outside," 
177-8. 

Season  as  method  of  "timing," 
235-7. 

Second-class  matter  ,  447-8; 
color  in  direct  advertising, 
uses  of,  3^5. 

Secondary  colors,  352. 

Securing,  aid  of  outside  special- 
ists, 18.5-8;  attention  by 
means  of  the  "outside,"  168-9; 
jobber  (wholesaler's)  co- 
operation, 491-2;  of  color  by 
use  of  paper  or  ink  or  'both, 
351-4;  simplicity  in  typogra- 
phic display,  327;  6,815  new 
dealers  in  ninety  days,  a  cam- 
paign that,  488-90. 

Seek  advice  of  advertising  man, 
197. 

Self-contained  or  self-enclosing, 
meaning  of  term,  303;  exam- 
ples of,  308. 

Self-inclosing  or  self-contained, 
meaning  of  term,  303;  exam- 
ples of,  308. 

Self-interest,  personalization 

based  on,  143,  229-33. 

Selecting  the  outside,  a  plan 
for,  176;  the  right  paper  stock, 
373-4. 

Selection  of  paper,  rules  for,  373. 

Selling,  a  city  to  its  school- 
children, 530;  a  city  to  its 
inhabitants,  530;  a  high-grade 
magazine  by  mail,  468-9;  a 
high-priced  product  by  mail, 
467 ;  a  play  to  the  public, 
532-3;   a  state  to  its  inhabi- 


INDEX 


633 


tants,  530;  a  thirteen  thou- 
sand dollar  automobile  to  the 
ultra-tired  by  direct  advertis- 
ing, 474-6;  and  serving,  488; 
attendance  at  a  convention, 
530-1 ;  by  mail,  vi^hat  is  possi- 
ble, 220-1;  by  telegraph,  533- 
4;  dogs  by  mail,  481-3;  farm 
field,  additional  references  to, 
540;  goods  for  wholesaler  and 
retailer,  additional  references 
on,  502-3;  life  insurance  by 
direct  advertising,  511-3; 
men's  clothes  by  direct  adver- 
tising, using  current  events  in, 
549-51 ;  Texas  steers'  by  mail, 
530;  the  children  and  through 
them  their  parents,  563-5; 
the  dealer  (retailer)  addition- 
al references  on,  490-1 ;  the 
men  sporting  goods,  552;  to 
the  wholesaler  and  retailer, 
two  different  phases  of  the 
problem  of,  488. 

Semi  professional  classes,  an 
effective   campaign  to,    542-3. 

Senses  and  emotions,  several 
methods  of  making  appeal  to, 
277. 

Serial,  story  idea  in  booklets, 
307;  use  of  "outside,"  172. 

Series,  idea  in  letterheads,  47- 
8;  of  appeals  pays,  proof  that 
a,  467. 

Serifs  (type),  323. 

Service,  basis  of  choosing  coun- 
sel, 183-4;  books,  early,  3,  6; 
departments  of  printing  of- 
fices, 183;  manual,  first,  2: 
printers,  200-1 ;  the  acid-test 
of  all  "middlemen,"  504-5; 
to  strengthen  physical  appeal, 
175-6. 

Serving,  and  selling,  488;  the 
distributor  through  direct  ad- 
vertising to  salesmen,  492-4. 

Set,  how  type  may  be,  325-6. 

Seventeen     standard     sizes     for 


stationery,  office  forms,  and 
mailing  slips,  570. 

Sewed  bindings,  315. 

Sharpe,  Geo.  B.,  experience  with 
follow-up  256;  methods  of 
reaching  the  farmer,  535. 

Shaw,  A.  W.,  Co».,  appeals  used 
by,  269;  letterhead,  50; 
stamping  return  card,  419-20. 

Sheet-wise  printing,  40"8. 

Sherbow,  Benjamin,  essentials  of 
typography,  328;  on  simplici- 
ty of  typography,  326;  on 
typography,  322. 

Sherwin-Williams  Co.,  one  cent 
vs.  two  cent  mailing,  417-9. 

Short  cuts  in  handling  big  jobs, 
398-401. 

Short-cutting,  the  handling  of 
big  lists,  139-41. 

Shriners,  copy  appealing  to,  550. 

Shryer,  W.  A.,  time  between 
follow-up,  257-8. 

Shuman,  E.  R.,  importance  of 
list,  114-6. 

Side  wiring,  315. 

Signature,  pen  and  ink,  value, 
390. 

Significant  stress,  emphasis  for, 
337. 

Simons,  E.  W.,  purpose  of  ad- 
vertising,  152-3. 

Simplicity  in  typographic  dis- 
play, securing,  327;  spells 
success  in  typographic  dis- 
play, 326. 

Sincerity  of  purpose  in  writing 
"copy,"  262. 

Single-letter  appeal,  an  effective, 
537-8. 

Single-piece,  campaign,  addition- 
al references  to  notable,  464 ; 
phenomenal  returns  from  a 
heart-appeal  campaign  of  a, 
457. 

Size,  and  face  of  type,  attention 
held  by,  330;  and  form  of 
broadsides,  97 ;  and  shape  of 
folders  unrestricted,  101; 
as  a  method  of  appeal,  240; 
double-reply  card,  75;  of  page 


634 


INDEX 


relation  to  pages,  305 ;  of  pages 
or  folds,  planning  mechanical- 
ly, the,  306;  watch  the,  in 
planning  mailing  pieces,   319. 

Sized   and   supercalendered,   380. 

Sizes,  and  weights  of  book  pa- 
pers, standard,  578;  and 
weights  of  cover  papers,  stan- 
ard,  578;  and  weights,  stan- 
dard, of  bond  and  writing 
papers,  577 ;  of  books  and 
booklets,  60;  of  bulletins,  69; 
of  catalogues,  63;  of  direct 
advertising,  not  standardized, 
46;  of  house  organs,  71;  of 
letterheads,  45 ;  of  machinery 
for  reproditctions,  410;  of 
portfolios,  66;  of  postal  cards, 
446-7;  seventeen  standard,  for 
stationery,  office  forms,  and 
mailing  "slips,  570;  standard 
bookbinders',  578;  standard  en- 
velope, 572-4 ;  twenty -two 
standard,  of  booklets,  cata- 
logues, house  organs,  alman- 
acs, and  portfolios,  569-70; 
two  main,  of  inclosures,  88; 
what  use  of  standard,  means 
to  direct  advertisers,  569. 

Slip-sheeting,    396. 

Sloan  &  Mooney,  advertising  a 
technical   product,   547. 

Small,  booklets,  appeal  of,  240; 
caps,  defined,  323. 

Small-town  field,  advertising 
specialist  needed   in,   197-9. 

Smith.  Elmer  H.,  writer  of  copy, 
requirements    of,    286-7. 

Smith,  Lee  S.  &  Son  Mfg.  Co., 
campaign   to  dentists,   546. 

Soap  wrappers,  distribution  as, 
422. 

Solving  labor  problems,  532. 

Soper,  Leon  A.,  selling  $8,000,- 
000  insurance  by  direct  ad- 
vertising   principles,    512-3. 

Source,  effect  of.  \ipon  efficiency 
of  list.  128;  of  list  of  indi- 
rect buyers,  127;  of  lists, 
buying  them,  127 ;  of  mail- 
ing list  for  jobbers,  13G-7;  of 


manufacturers'       lists       from 
salesmen's    reports,    136. 

Sources  of  names  used  by  mail- 
order houses,  137-8;  of  pros- 
pects' names,  124-7;  of  re- 
tailers' lists,   131. 

Southern  Pine  Association,  book- 
let,  58. 

Space  for  imprint,  315-6. 

Spaces   (type),  325. 

Spacing,  judicious  (type),  331; 
(type),   five   methods   of,   331. 

Special,  delivery  mailings,  419; 
foreword  to  part  four,  297 ; 
pages,    arrangement    of,    332. 

Specialist,  five  requirements  of 
the  outside,  198-9;  using  the 
direct  advertising,    197-9. 

Specialists,  securing  aid  of  out- 
side,   18^8. 

Specifications  for  ordering  pa- 
per, 378;  for  printing,  589-91. 

Specimen,  of  modern  roman 
type,  323;  old  style  roman 
type,   323. 

Specimens,  of  different  type- 
writer "types,"  322;  of  print- 
ing types,  324. 

Speeding  up  sales  by  use  of 
monthly   catalogue,    506. 

Spillman,  H.  C,  copy  writing 
suggestions,  287. 

Sporting  goods,  selling  the  men, 
552. 

Square,  binding  style,  313;  fin- 
ish   half-tone,    362. 

Stamping,  die,  367;  the  return 
card,  419-20. 

Stamps,  mailing  with  precan- 
celed  postage,  452;  mailing 
without,   451-2;    poster,    105. 

Standard,  bookbinders'  sizes, 
578 ;  commercial  envelopes, 
161;  envelope  sizes,  572-4; 
sizes  and  weights  of  bond 
and  writing  papers,  577; 
sizes  and  weights  of  book 
papers,  578 ;  sizes  and  weights 
of  cover  papers,  578;  sizes  of 
booklets,  catalogues,  house  or- 
gans, almanacs,  and  port- 
folios    (twentv-two),     569-70; 


INDEX 


€35 


sizes  (seventeen)  for  station- 
ery, office  forms,  and  mailing 
slips,  570-1 ;  sizes,  what  use 
of,  means  to  direct  advertis- 
ers, 569;  specifications  for 
ordering  printing,  589-91. 

Standard  Underground  Cable 
Co.,  experience  with  "timed" 
mailing,  237. 

Standardization  of  papers,  575. 

Standardized,  direct  advertising, 
40;  paragraphs,  386-8;  sizes 
of  catalogues,  63;  varieties  of 
text  papers  well,  380, 

Stationery,  standard  sizes  for, 
570-1. 

Statistics,  annual  amqunt  in  di- 
rect advertising,  8;  average 
sum  per  person  for  postage,  7 ; 
farm  field  as  a  market,  535- 
6;  Mailbag  investigation  as  to 
"average"  direct  advertising 
appropriation,  22 ;  of  paper 
consumption,  372 ;  percent- 
ages of  appropriation  in  di- 
rect advertising,  22;  printing 
industry,  6,10;  results  early 
English  direct  advertising,  4; 
selling  cost  Babson's  Statisti- 
cal Organization,  31;  showing 
importance  physical  form  of 
letters,  51;  total  annual  in- 
vestment in  advertising,  8; 
value  printing  industry  invest- 
ment,   10.     See    also    Results. 

Steel  engraving,  393. 

"Stepped"  arrangement  of  pages, 
304. 

Steps,  in  growth  of  a  business, 
179;  in  reproduction  of  four- 
page  inclosure,   395-6. 

Stereotypes,    367-8: 

Stetson  Shoe  Co.,  use  of  direct 
advertising,   500. 

Stickers,  mailing,  176;  present- 
ation, 316. 

Stillson,  Robert  L.,  Co.,  repre- 
sentative number  of  im- 
pressions from  engraving 
plates,  3©8. 

Stitching  or  wiring,  saddle,  315. 

Stock  lists,  defined,  127. 


"Stock"  pictures,  342. 

Stockholders,  becoming  a,  to  se- 
cure lists,  126;  direct  adver- 
tising to,  485. 

Straits  settlements,  using  direct 
advertising    to,    526. 

Strategies,  in  direct  advertising, 
215-6;  of  advance  mailings, 
210;  of  appeal,  222-5;  of  di- 
rect advertising,  221-2  of 
charging  for  direct  advertis- 
ing, 217-8;  of  using  famous 
authors,  190,557;  of  using 
more  than  one  name  on  list, 
121. 

Strathmore  Paper  Co.,  cost  of 
letter,  374. 

Street  address  necessary  in 
third-class  mailing,  120. 

Strengthening  of  physical  ap- 
peal by  service,  175-6. 

Stress,  emphasis  for  significant, 
337. 

Striking  physical  outsides,  plan- 
ning of,  for  booklets,  cata- 
logues, etc.,  174-5. 

String  for  hanging  booklet,  176. 

Stuart,  Edwin  H.,  typography, 
326. 

Student,  effectively  reaching  the, 
532,  566. 

Study,  the  market  or  mar- 
keteer, how  to,  219-20;  the 
prospect,  222-5. 

"Stuffers"  (envelope  inclosures), 
82. 

Stunt,  capitalizing  a  famous, 
531;  in  direct  advertising, 
534. 

Stunts  in  direct  advertising,  307. 

Style  of  binding,  oblong,  313; 
square,   313. 

Styles  of  binding,   314-5. 

Subclassifications,  general  and 
group,  of  manufacturers'  lists, 
136. 

Subdivisions,  of  envelopes, 
"'outsides"),  171;  of  lists, 
130;  of  lists  by  wholesalers, 
137. 

Subheads  and  headlines,  332-4; 
in  letter  reproductions,  334. 


636 


INDEX 


Subject,  knowledge  of,  how  ob- 
tained, 261. 

"Substance  weight"  of  paper, 
what  is  meant  by,  575. 

Success,  in  a  typographic  dis- 
play through  simplicity,  326; 
of  appeal  may  be  indicated  by 
absence  of  returns,  147-8;  of 
direct  advertising  campaign 
dependent  upon  list,  114-6. 

Suggestion,  power  of  direct,  277- 
8;    power   of    indirect,    277-8. 

Sumner,  G.  Lynn,  follow-up,  255- 
6;    selling  to   women,   559-60. 

"Swapping"  ideas,   183. 

Sweet's  chocolate  catalogue,   62. 

Swift  &  Co.,  use  of  direct  adver- 
tising, 126. 

Synchronization  of  direct  adver- 
tising with  publicity  work, 
185-8. 

Syndicated  direct  advertising, 
233-5 ;  direct-advertising  in- 
cisure, 233. 

"Syndicated"   picture,   342. 

System,  point,  324. 

Table,  for  figuring  mailing  cost, 
420-1 ;  of  mechanical  factors, 
303;  of  paper  and  ink  com- 
binations, 381;  of  screens  to 
order  for  different  papers. 
365;  of  words  to  the  square 
inch,  404. 

Tables  of  color  appeals.  356. 

"Teaser"  campaign  defined,  81; 
campaign  use,  210. 

Technical,  advertisers  selling  di- 
rect-advertising books,  217-8; 
catalogue,  eight  points  to  re- 
member in  building  a.  545-6; 
details  about  type,  323-5 ;  de- 
tails, 0.  K.  of.  407;  men, 
effective  appeals  to,  545 ;  pro- 
duct by  mail,  completing  the 
sale  of  a.  460:  product,  high 
priced  selling  by  mail,  467; 
terms  for  paper,   378. 

Telegraph,  as  a  means  of  dis- 
tribution, 422;  selling  by, 
533-4. 


Telephone  book  aa  source  of 
names,   118. 

Tendencies,  appeal  in  copy  of, 
268. 

Term  follow-up,  the,  252;  used 
in  connection  with  salesmen, 
253. 

Terms  engraving,  miscellaneous, 
defined,  367. 

Test,  campaign  in  foreign  fields, 
making  a,  523;  chart  of  copy 
and  plan,  '584-6;  on  your 
copy,  try  this,  284-5. 

Testimonials,  in  reason-why 
copy,  278 ;  localize,  278 ;  per- 
sonalize, 279;  value  of,  278-9. 

Testing,  and  checking  up  copy, 
295;  letters,  questions  to  ask, 
42 ;  "order  of  merit"  method 
of,  242;   the  headline,  288-9. 

Tests,  advertising  efficiency, 
586-8;  largely  restricted  to 
letters,  241;  necessary  for  de- 
ciding one  cent  vs.  two  cent, 
417;  on  return  cards,  results, 
316-9:  to  forecast  results,  240. 

Text,  of  letters,  42 ;  pape)rs, 
varieties  of,  well  standardized, 
380;  stock  and  inks,  harmoni- 
ous color  combinations  of 
cover  or,  381-2. 

Texture  of  drawings,  351. 

The   Em,   324. 

Theater,  programs,  distribution 
in,  422;  ticket  envelopes,  574; 
use  of  direct  advertising, 
532-3. 

Theorv  of  the  follow-up.  244, 

Therkildson,  W,.  F.,  value  of 
color,   350. 

Third-class,  mail  matter  item- 
ized, 449;  mailinfrs  require 
street  addresses,  120;  matter, 
448 ;  rate  of  postage,  448-9 ; 
undeliverablo  mail,  450-1 ;  vs. 
first-cla'^s    mailings,    417-8. 

Thornes,  The,  using  direct  ad- 
vertising to  solve  labor  prob- 
lems,  531-2. 

Three-color    process   plates,    363. 

Thrift  campaign,  use  of  direct 
advertising,  18. 


INDEX 


637 


Thrift,  Tim,  dimensions  of  copy, 
264. 

Ticket,  theater   (envelopes),  574. 

Tiffany  &  Co.,  catalogue  (Blue 
Book),   62. 

Time  required  for  printing,  398. 

Time-tables,  railroad,  110. 

Timed  campaign,  results  of, 
237-8. 

Times,  number  of,  to  follow  up, 
255. 

Timing,  mailings,  417;  the  ap- 
peal, 235-7;  the  appeal  with 
length  of  campaign,  238-9. 

Tipper,  Harry,  four  essentials  of 
good  copy,  260. 

Title-page,   laying  out   the,   332. 

Titles  and  headlines  are  valu- 
able, 288;  attracting  atten- 
tion with,  266-8:  divided  into 
four  classes,  238;  headlines, 
and  first  paragraphs,  287. 

To  find  equivalent  weight  of  pa- 
per in  another  size,  575-6^ 

Todd  Protectograph  Co.,  most 
unusual  use  of  direct  advertis- 
ing, 534. 

Tooling,   hand,    367. 

Tracing  results  from  package 
inserts,  94. 

Trade-paper  advertising,  using 
the  humorous  appeal  in  con- 
nection with,  483-5. 

Trade  papers  and  direct  adver- 
tising,   483-5. 

Training  the  preparer  of  direct 
advertising,   189,    286-7. 

Transparent  paper,  use  of,  377-8. 

Trewin,  Wm.  C,  effective  six 
piece  campaign,   468. 

Trimmed,  flush  covers,  304;  page 
sizes,  569. 

Trimming,  396. 

Twenty-two  standard  booklet, 
catalogue,  house  organ,  al- 
manac and  portfolio  sizes, 
569-70. 

Two-color  half-tones,  363. 

Two  colors  in  direct  advertising, 
the  rule,  354. 

Twofold   mailing   circulars    (ex- 


ample)    Freight    Traffic    Red 
Book   (example),  75. 

Two  cents  vs.  one  cent  417-9. 

Tying  up  the  manufacturers'  ad- 
vertising with  distributor's 
business,  imprinting  the  sim- 
plest form  of,  315-6;  491-2, 
497. 

Type,  attention  held  by  size  and 
face  of,  330^1;  defined,  321; 
display,  emphasis  through, 
321;  display,  rules  governing, 
"328;  elite  typewriter,  322; 
faces,  italic,  323;  how  it  may 
be  set,  325-6;  line,  rules  for 
length  of,  330^1 ;  modern  ro- 
man,  specimen,  323;  of  cam- 
paign, an  endless  chain,  467-8; 
old  stvle  roman,  specimen, 
323;  pica  typewriter,  322; 
roman,  specimen,  323;  speci- 
mens of,  324;  styles,  typogra- 
phy not  multiplicity  of,  321-3; 
technical  details  about,  323-5. 

Types,  bold  faced,  327;  gothic, 
323-4;  of  folding  machines, 
two  main,  410. 

Typewriter  type,  elite,  322; 
pica,  322. 

Typewriting,  addresses,  cost  of, 
416;    automatic,   384-5. 

Typewritten   addresses,   415. 

Typical,  analysis  of  probable  re- 
sults, 146 ;  bank  campaigns, 
517-9;  campaigns  for  benefit 
of  distributors,  499-501 ;  cam- 
paigns showing  interlocking  of 
direct  advertising  with  other 
(forms,  479-81 ;  department 
store  direct-advertising  cam- 
paigns, 507;  follow-up,  a,  247- 
9. 

Typographic  display,  securing 
simplicity  in,  327-8;  sim- 
plicity  spells   success   in,   326. 

Typography,  321-338;  and  dis- 
play interrelation  of,  321; 
four  essentials  in  planning, 
336-7;  is  tlie  vehicle  of  ex- 
pression, 321;  making  it 
attract  attention,  328 ;  making 
it  hold  the  attention,  330;  not 


638 


INDEX 


multiplicity  of  type  styles, 
321;  orderly  arrangement  of, 
330;  what  it  must  do,  322. 

Uncle   Sam,   how   interests   boys 
in  the  Navy,  552. 

Unconventional,    direct-advertis- 
ing, 40;   forms,   73. 

Undeliverable  mail  or  all  classes, 
540-1. 

Underscores  a  method  of  empha- 
sis, 335. 

Unfolded  mailing  card,  73. 

United  Drug  Co.,  how  they  check 
catalogue  returns,    15,7. 

United  States  Cartridge  Co.,  use 
of  direct  advertising,  500. 

United  States  Postal  Dept.  bans 
die-cut  mailing  pieces,  174. 

United  States  Postal  Guide.  444. 

United  Typothetse  of  America, 
influence  of,  201. 

Unity  of  appeal,  265. 

Universal  appeal  of  blotter,  105; 
appeal  of  picture,  339. 

University  Extension  Conserva- 
tory, "timed"  appeal,  237. 

Unlimited  possibilities  of  pack- 
age inserts,  92. 

Unusual,  accomplishments  by  di- 
rect advertising,  530-4 ;  angles 
in  preparation  of  direct  adver- 
tising, 190-1 ;  distribution, 
230,  306,  416-7,  422-3;  ex- 
ample of  direct  advertising, 
534;  letter  reproductions,  388- 
9;  methods  of  securing  re- 
tailers' lists,  130-5;  reproduc- 
tions, 392-3,  394;  sizes  of 
inclosures,  307-10. 

Upbuilding   an    industry,    531. 

Use  of,  broadsides,  100;  en- 
velope backs,  172;  follow-up, 
who,  24.5-6 ;  inside  of  "out- 
side," 95,  177-8;  multi-page 
letterheads.  51 ;  "outside" 
serially.  172;  standard  sizes, 
what  it  means  to  direct  ad- 
vertisers, 569. 
Users,  direct  advertising  to 
reach,  19;  house  organ,  70. 
Uses,   other,   for  art   work,   345. 


Using,  current  events  in  selling 
men's  clothes  by  direct  adver- 
tising^ 549-51 ;  outside  ser- 
vices in  preparing  direct  ad- 
vertising, 197;  postmasters  to 
recheck  lists,  453-4;  the  direct 
advertising  specialist,  197-9; 
the  humorous  appeal  in  con- 
nection with  trade-paper  ad- 
vertising, 483-5;  the  mails  for 
distribution  purposes,  416. 

Utility  value  of  blotter,  102. 

Utilizing  the  inside  of  the  out- 
side,  177-8. 

Vacuum  Oil  Co..  bulletins.  68. 
Value,  of  attention  to  details, 
42.3-4 ;  of  mechanical  factors, 
302 ;  of  outside  viewpoint, 
197;  of  testimonials,  278-9; 
of  titles  and  headlines,  288'; 
to  the  distributor,  of  the 
manufacturer's  advertising, 
496-7. 

Vantine,  A.  A.  &  Co.,  checking 
catal'ogue    returns,     157. 

Van  Vliet,  P.  D.,  table  for  cost 
of  mailing,  420-1. 

Variation,  in  compiling  of  lists, 
why,  130;  of  double  reply 
card,  75,  316-8;  of  returns 
with  offer,  147;  of  salesmen's 
advance  cards,   7-5,   105. 

Variations,  of  fill-in,  389;  of 
salesmen's  advance  cards,  79; 
of  the  personal  appeal,  229-33. 

Varieties,  of  cover  papers,  378- 
9;  of  half-tones,  362-3;  of 
half-tones,  362-3;  of  text  pa- 
pers  well    standardized,    380. 

Various  classes  of  envelopes,  161. 

Vehicle  of  expression,  typogra- 
phy is   the,   321. 

Verification  of  list.  123  and  241. 

Victor  Talking  Machine  Co., 
campaign  to  school  children, 
566-7  ;  catalogue,  62 ;  example 
of  follow-up,  249;  experience 
with  catalogues.  64;  keeping 
catalogue   "timely,"   239. 

Viewpoint  value  of  outside,  197. 


INDEX 


639 


Vigilance,  eternal,  price  of  a 
good  list,   123. 

Vignetted  half-tone,  362. 

Visiting  Nurse  Service  Cam- 
paign, reference  to,  202. 

Vital  factors,  four,  more  impor- 
tant  than. "copy,"   260. 

"Vitalized"   letterheads,   43,   111. 

Vvle,  Philip,  on  efficiency  of 
'lists,  128. 

Wallen,  James,  copy  appealing 
to  brides,  559;  effective  four- 
page  letter  copy,  461. 

Wallet  flap  envelopes,  574. 

Ward,  Montgomery  &  Co..  book- 
let, 58;  early  catalogues,  61; 
follow-up  results,  258. 

Warner,  C.  T.,  campaign  to 
reach  semi-professionals,  542- 
3. 

Wash  drawing,  348. 

Waste,  allowance,  printing  shop, 
383;  basket  "bogey"  of  direct 
advertising,  33 ;  haste  in  cam- 
paign planning  means,  243; 
in  advertising,  all  forms,  33; 
in  direct  advertising  due  to 
poor   lists,    117. 

Watch  lottery  laws  in  contests, 
454. 

Way,  Henry  H.,  relative  im- 
portance of  direct  advertis- 
ing,   19. 

Way  Sagless  Spring  Co.,  rela- 
tive importance  of  direct  ad- 
vertising 19. 

Wayne  Oil  Tank  &  Pump  Co., 
users    of    bulletins,    68% 

Weakness,  of  follow-up  cam- 
pai«ns,  253;  of  many  direct 
advertising  campaigns,  how  to 
correct,   121-3. 

Wear-out,  or  persistent  follow- 
up,  251 ;  or  persistent  follow- 
ups  frequently  antagonize,  251. 

Weight,  of  dummies,  table  for, 
420-1 ;  of  paper  in  another 
size,  to  find  equivalent,  575-6; 
of  paper,  what  is  meant  by 
substance,    575. 


Weights  and  sizes,  standard,  of 
bond  and  writing  papers,  577 ; 
standard,  of  book  papers,  578; 
standard,  of  cover  papers,  578. 

Weir,  E.  G.,  importance  of  direct 
advertising,  21;  using  dealers 
help,  500;  ways  of  mailing  an 
impression,  277-8. 

Western  Clock  Co.,  house  organ, 
70. 

Westinghouse  Electric  &  Mfg. 
Co.,  representative  on  red  fill- 
in,  390. 

Wetzel,  Julian,  postal  card  cam- 
paign,  509-10. 

What  a  change  in  outside  dress 
means  to  users  of  the  follow- 
up,  168. 

What,  a  direct  advertising 
writer  should  be,  189;  a 
typical  outside  counsel  in  di- 
rect advertising  does,  202-4; 
bank  campaigns  must  be,  515; 
direct  advertising  can  do,  27; 
is  a  complete  address?  119-20; 
is  a  good  list?  118-9;  is  an 
electrotype?  365;  is  first-class 
matter?  445;  is  human-in- 
terest copy?  275;  is  meant  by 
"distribution"?  216;  is  meant 
by  "imposition"?  407-8;  is 
meant  by  "substance  weight" 
of  paper?  575;  one  bank  ac- 
complished in  appealing  to 
children,  565-6 ;  "personaliz- 
ing" depends  upon,  228-9;  the 
big  banks  and  trust  companies 
are  doing,  517;  typography 
must  do,  322 ;  use  of  stan- 
dard sizes  means  to  direct 
advertisers,  569. 

When,  a  piece  of  direct  advertis- 
ing is  self-contained  or  self- 
enclosing,  303;  to  order  "out- 
sides,"  176;  to  use  hand- 
lettering,  343-5;  to  use 
"reason-why"  copy,  279;  to 
use  the  cut-out  mechanical  ap- 
peal, 313;  to  use  the  human- 
interest  appeal,  276. 

White  &  Wyckoff  Mfg.  Co.,  pre- 


640 


INDEX 


ceding  salesmen  with  direct 
advertising,  472. 

White,  mourning  color  of  China, 
240. 

Whiteside,  John  C,  humorous 
copy,  483-5;  "jazz"  letters, 
225. 

Wlio,  can  use  the  follow-up? 
224-5;  can  prepare  direct  ad- 
vertising, 189-90,  286-7 ;  should 
■be  your  customers,  121 ;  should 
prepare  direct  advertising, 
179-205. 

Wholesaler,  and  retailer,  ad- 
ditional references  on  selling 
goods  for,  502-3;  and  retailer, 
two  different  phases  of  the 
problem  of  selling  to  the,  488; 
function  of  the,  largely  one  of 
distribution,  504-5;  how  one, 
uses  direct  advertising  to  help 
retailers,  505-6;  one,  uses 
monthly  catalogue  to  speed  up 
sales,  506. 

Wholesalers,  can  also  help  to  in- 
crease consumer  demand,  506 ; 
direct  advertising  to  reach, 
21;  how,  subdivide  lists,  136- 
7 ;  using  catalogues,  504-5. 

Wholesaling  by  mail,  504. 

Why  Field's  advertising  domin- 
ated, 339;  letter  shops  and 
printers  can  advise  direct  ad- 
vertisers, 18'3;  one  farmer 
bought  and  wliy  he  did  not, 
539=-40. 

Wiggins,  Charles  S.,  improper 
paper  selection,  375. 

Wightman,  Richard,  on  mail- 
order advertising,  221. 

Williams,  Russell  B.,  14  vs.  2^, 
419. 

"Window"   envelopes,   162. 

Wiring  or  stitching,  saddle,  315; 
side,  315. 

Wolff.  Ed.,  results  return  cards, 
316. 

Woman,  the  "purchasing  agent" 
of  the  average  home,  554. 


Woman's  Institute,  follow-up, 
255;  selling  to  women,  559. 

Wlomen,  additional  references  on 
effective  direct  advertising  to 
women,  561 ;  as  to  men— a 
comparison,  making  the  same 
personal  appeal  to,  554-6;  how 
to  sell,  560;  responsive  to 
color,  554 ;  susceptible  to 
samples,  557-8 ; ;  the  recipe- 
book  a  standby  in  appealing 
to,  556-7 ;  to  buy,  reasons  that 
influence,  559-60. 

Wood  engravings,  360. 

Words  in  capitals,  337 ;  to 
square    inch,  table  of,  404. 

Work-and-turn,  printing,  408. 

Wrappers  for  chewing  gum,  110; 
use  as  an  appeal    161. 

Wright,  John  Howie,  method  of 
testing,  242. 

Writer  of  copy,  making  a  good, 
286-7;  what  a  direct  advertis- 
ing, should  be,  189-90. 

Writers,  a  few  "don'ts"  for 
direct-advertising  copy,  295-6. 

Writing  copy  for  "come-backs," 
2*92-4. 

Writing,  direct  advertising,  260- 
296 ;  letters,  42 ;  papers,  stand- 
ard sizes  and  weights  of,  577 ; 
sales  letters,  how,  44;  the 
follow-up,  254-5;  to  dealers 
in  advance  of  salesmen's  calls, 
194-5. 

Wyman,  Walter  F.,  fundamen- 
tals of  export  catalogue,  521. 

Yardstick  for  checking  up  plan 
and  copy,  584-6. 

Young,  John  Orr,  appealing  to 
women,  556. 

Y.  M.  C.  A.,  users  of  direct  ad- 
vertising in  thrift  campaigns, 
18. 

Zimmerman,  W.  S.,  mjotives 
considered  in  basing  appeal, 
269. 

Zinc  etchings,  line-engravings  or, 
359-60. 

(2) 


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